Duc de Richleu (Christopher Lee) is welcoming home his pal Rex for their annual reunion where they will do all manner of manly English things like sip tea, eat crumpets and whine about the new cult that has moved in down the lane.
Their friend Simon hasn’t been around much lately and he’s been hanging with a new group of friends that keep him isolated and study astrology. Rex is disappointed that Simon isn’t there so the Duc decides they should just go up to Simon’s house and ask him why he thinks his doo doo doesn’t stink anymore.
They get there and there’s a big gathering going with thirteen people! The Duc and his pal breeze on in and Simon is none too happy to see them. The Duc has his suspicions about what’s going on and says he wants to see the brand new telescope that Simon has had installed upstairs.
The Duc goes on up with Rex and Simon in tow and starts to nose around. One goat-headed beast floor design and a couple of live roosters later, the Duc has figured out that Simon has joined a devil-worshipping cult run by the all powerful Mocata and they’re bent on corrupting as many innocent souls as the 95 minute running time of this feature will allow!
Duc and Rex drag Simon off to the Duc’s estate to keep him safe there. As added insurance, the Duc puts a crucifix around the neck of Simon to stop him from going back to his cult. Simon escapes after the well-meaning, but satanically challenged butler takes his crucifix off once it begins strangling poor old Simon!
At Duc’s behest, Rex goes to London to locate a woman (Tanith) who was in the cult and might be able to help somehow. Once she’s found and riding with Rex, she puts up a fuss and tries to jump out of the speeding car because Mocata is still controlling her.
Eventually Rex and Tanith arrive at their destination and as soon as Rex is out of the car giving his old chums hugs and salutations, Tanith, whom Rex left stupidly in the car, just drives off! I know there was something wrong with this plan!
In the ensuing car chase Mocata uses his powers to cause Rex’s windshield to turn an opaque white color, so Rex just puts his fist through it! Of course, I immediately wondered why if Mocata could do that, he didn’t just make the tires go flat or the radiator overheat. He does cause Rex to crash into a tree, so maybe he was just trying to do something appropriately showy.
The remainder of the film features tons more action packed devil battling heroics involving more mind control, kidnappings, attempted sacrifices, giant spiders, and the angel of freaking death, himself!
This was really a rousing Christopher Lee vs. Satan movie that is head and goat-shoulders above the rest of the demonic possession genre! Lee delivers a great performance, delicately balancing between being a strong, determined character and going over the top straight into Bela Lugosi ham territory.
The other actors are also up to the task and even the thickheaded Rex comes off well and is a nice compliment to the more cerebral Duc.
The villain seems a bit underdeveloped though. His past and motivations are never made entirely clear and we hardly see him, but I guess that left us with less of a chance of him running his yap about ridiculous plans to take over the world and the like. Maybe there just isn’t that much to know about a devil worshipping idiot who runs around in a purple robe that looks like he picked it up at the Heaven’s Gate Going Out of Business Sale.
© 2011 MonsterHunter
