Customer Reviews

Demons of the Mind [VHS]

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Demons of the mind is a later hammer, a 70s production from their third period ie it is bloody and features nudity and a depressing ending... [....] The director of demons of the mind, one Peter sykes brought his own imprint to this film and To the devil a daughter (while fun is a murky all-star mess), it is much, much darker than any other hammers,[....]the opening scene of the film is one of the most brilliant dream or recollection sequences in cinema (not an exaggeration). But be warned, not every scene is composed like that one, all drifting and skilful camerawork and amazing cutting. [...]this film is beautiful, eerie and dreamlike but only in parts. It is also ludicrous (psychotic and psychopathic personality order by proxy anyone?), meaningless, plotless, pretensious (actors deliver cod shakespeare addresses to themselves in theatrical earnest) and depressing (a vice or a virtue depending on your taste). But it is a fascinating film for all those reasons, actors like robin hardy and michael hordern keep a straight face delivering their lines with deadly seriousness and has Patrick Magee, a wonderful underrated british actor who always chills regardless of how timid or ineffectual his charcter is (clockwork orange as terence alexander, the masque of the red death and asylum), when he intones is his tremolous mahogany voice 'demons of the mind' it does not fall flat, it resonates and hearing it reminds me of the sensation that accompanies the turning of the pages of a book.

Good and evil are never clearly defined in this film, the villagers dance en-tranced to their rituals, grins on their faces en masse while teasing a woman with a flame, when they come to deliver their justice to Hardy's character at the end they are crazed and inhuman, unlike in other hammers, again twins of evil is a good comparison where the mob is righteous and purifying and even repulsive characters appear good in their quest to destroy evil, they are sadistic and brutal. The ending is extremely uncomfortable, again purification is hammer's usual close, not this time, but i best leave that for the viewer to discover.

The film as a whole contains buckets of tasteful bloodshed, much like all hammers of this period (if you've never seen someones throat torn out with a set of keys this might be for you, thankfully is not graphic) but there is no sadistic or violent sex, rather caring and unexploitative, delicate.

This is a fascinating film, in turns hypnotic and strange, daft and baffling, is clearly a hammer, but it belongs to this neglected breed (captain kronos, frankenstein and the monster from hell, fear in the night, blood from the mummy's tomb) of minor classics from their twilight years, serious yet silly, beautiful amd well made yet bloody and depressing.[....]i love this film, but if you don't like the sound of the negatives i have listed here, best go get yourself plague of the zombies or another hammer from their golden age before buying this whistful, delicate yet violent melange

Lush victorian credit sequence and score too (classy by any standards), thanks for reading

While the title might lead you to believe that this is one of Hammer's psychological suspense movies, in fact it's a period-piece Gothic, although a peculiar one.

The story is set in Bavaria circa 1830. Baron Friedrich, owner of the local castle, believes that his family is cursed with a hereditary strain of madness. Fearing that his children, Elizabeth and Emil, are afflicted with this taint, he keeps them imprisoned in their rooms. He uses drugs to sedate them and conducts dubious medical experiments in an attempt to "cure" them. Well, if they weren't crazy before, they sure are now, after years of the Baron's injurious ministrations.

Elizabeth spends most of the time in a daze, but Emil periodically escapes and goes off wandering in the nearby woods, where he kills any beautiful young woman he chances to meet. He's also erotically obsessed with his sister, and schemes constantly to escape from the castle with her. Meanwhile, a demented priest stirs up the usual villagers, telling them that the Baron is a demon and must be destroyed. Pretty soon, the villagers are grabbing torches and heading for the castle. . . .

The first version of the script for Demons of the Mind called for the "hereditary strain" to be lycanthropy, presumably with the Baron keeping his children imprisoned out of fear that they might become werewolves. For whatever reason, Hammer dropped this concept in favor of mere insanity, with results that remind me of one of Tennessee Williams' more lurid dramas transposed to the Gothic era.

Demons of the Mind is an interesting but uneven film, which suffers from a lack of sympathetic characters. It does feature striking composition in some of the shots and good use of color. And Gillian Hills and Virginia Weatherell look quite fetching, both in and out of their clothes.

Hammer Studios 1972 release of Demons of the Mind wasn't quite what I expected...it does have a number of the markings of a Hammer film, gothic settings, lush scenery, horse drawn coaches, angry villagers, a little blood, and let's not forget the naked women, but it takes a different turn in the type of story presented. There are hints of a physical monster, but the real terror appears to us in a more metaphysical sense.

The movie is very slow going for about the first half, as the movie seems clutch to certain plot elements like a miser to his coins, not sharing much. Patience is needed, but may not be worth the wait for someone expecting a more traditional Hammer horror film in the manner of Dracula or Frankenstein. I recognize and appreciate the effort made to try and expand on the traditional Hammer format, but I just didn't feel this movie clicked entirely with me. I didn't so much mind the slow pacing, but the horror was more obtuse and unfocused, in my opinion.

The story involves a Baron and his semi-adult children and a horrible event that happened when the children were much younger. They seem to suffer some sort of malady, which the Baron is convinced is 'in the blood', so he keeps them drugged up real good and uses archaic techniques of blood letting to try and find the cause, which renders his children pale and weak. There is murder, incest, and a slight mystery involving a subplot about nearby village women being murdered, but the mystery isn't much of a mystery.

Not a bad movie, and I really did enjoy the gothic feel throughout. I also really enjoyed Patrick Magee's (A Clockwork Orange) performance as Falkenburg, a doctor with dubious credentials enlisted by the Baron to assist in helping the Baron cure his children from their 'Demons of the Mind'. Another notable actor in this movie is Paul Jones, lead singer of the 60's rock group Manfred Mann.

Anchor Bay releases an excellent wide screen print of the film, along with the standard trailer and also includes a separate commentary track with the director, the writer, and one of the actresses, of which I have not had the opportunity to listen to yet...and look for the excellent and thorough 'liner' notes in the small foldout inside the DVD case.

Although often overlooked, this ranks with Peter Sasdy's "Hands of the Ripper" as one of the finest and most unconventional films produced by Hammer in the 1970s. It looks gorgeous - thanks partially to expert cinematography by the great Arthur Grant, and partially to the use of real locations instead of the usual studio sets. Peter Sykes' direction is outstanding; the film's lush visual poetry carries an erotic charge that is a far cry indeed from the embarassed girlie-magazine imagery of so many of Hammer's "sexy" films of the period ("Lust for a Vampire," for instance). The performances (by an exceptionally fine cast) are generally excellent, although Robert Hardy overacts badly. The film also contains some of Harry Robinson's best music, most notably in an early sequence that runs for several minutes without any dialogue at all.

One of the film's most attractive features is the way in which it consistently turns the conventions of Hammer horror on their heads. Wild coach rides, sinister mansions, torch-bearing villagers, a series of monstrous murders of busty barmaids - all the usual Hammer paraphernalia are here, but many of them are put to unconventional or at least subtly different uses. The story itself is equally unusual, with shades of Mesmer and a complete absence of supernatural forces. For all its novelty, however, you may find it a bit dull. But with so many incidental pleasures, who cares? This is a fine and enjoyable film - one of the last really solid efforts produced by Hammer before its gradual disintegration.

The DVD commentary track is definitely worth a listen. It features Sykes, screenwriter Christopher Wicking (as always, an intelligent and refreshing interrogator of the horror genre), and actress Virginia Wetherell, who has only a small role in the film but delivers some of the most interesting commentary. All in all, another fine addition to Anchor Bay's very welcome Hammer Collection.

A young man and his sister are kept locked away in their rooms by their father, who is a wealthy nobleman. The father says his children have demons of the mind and brings in a doctor to help cure them. At the same time someone is killing young women in the town and the townspeople are trying to figure out who. A strange priest also wanders around babbling about some evil that is present and says he is preparing to stop it. Eventually all of the above come to a head at the same time and place. The first half hour is slick and sometimes eerie due to good photography and strong settings. The film then begins to unravel into a very predictable film that revolves around sexual obsessions more than anything else. The film still looks good, but eventually it cannot help hold up the mess that this film becomes. Robert Hardy (the father) is wasted in this dribble that really started out as something, but falls apart in a hurry.

Taking into account the length of time I have been a Hammer fan, I had never seen this film until very recently. As other reviewers have pointed out, it was made during the latter period of Hammers productivity. As such, it is a bit more violent and has more nudity then the studios previous output. This may be offputting to some, but I highly doubt that will matter much to modern audiences as it still quite tame (by modern standards).

So is the thing any good? I personally really liked it! I am a big,big fan of the late Patrick Magee so any opportunity to watch him chew up the scenery is worth a look in my opinion. Sure the plot and some of the proceedings are a bit convuluted, but I found that interesting and kept me engaged through until the very end.In other words, I was "entertained".

Perhaps not a "classic", but i'm glad I watched it and will likely enjoy it again sometime.It is worth a repeat viewing, in my opinion. How many recent movies can you say that about?? I rest my case

This should have been a cracking little film. A superb cast, including Michael Hordern, Robert Hardy and Patrick Magee with a potentially interesting story set over 90 minutes looks like a winner from the start. Its not...

Sadly the script lets the whole thing down badly. There are quite a few really clunky lines which made me wince, and the plot whilst initially slightly confusing became entirely predictable as the film went on.

This being made in the early 70's Hammer took the opportunity to take advantage of the more lenient censorship laws and so this does contain nudity and some quite violent scenes. These don't particularly enhance the film, and you'd expect them from a late period Hammer film anyway.

In all honesty as the film got near the end I couldn't wait for it to finish, it had become that irratating. Oh by the way, yes that is the Paul Jones of Manfred Mann and Blues Band fame who plays one of the leading roles.

The only Hammer film I have seen worse than this was Prehistoric Women. My advice don't watch either....

From the title alone, one can deduce that "Demons of the Mind" is psychological horror. It was once thought that all psychological illness was caused by demonic possession. In "Demons of the Mind," Baron Zorn (Robert Hardy) believes that his own psychotic behavior is a genetic disease that his adult children have inherited. Therefore, he locks them in separate rooms and keeps them weak and helpless with drugs and blood letting. Meanwhile, young women are being attacked and murdered in the nearby village. Who in the Zorn household is responsible?

An excellent performance is given by Gillian Hills who is Elizabeth Zorn. We watch her transform from helpless victim to vengeful, wrathful psychotic before our very eyes. Amicus regular Patrick Magee ("Tales of the Crypt, "Asylum," and "And Now the Screaming Starts") is excellent as the unethical Dr. Fischinger who blames the children's madness on their father's physical and emotional abuse. Michael Horden ("Theatre of Blood") is excellent as the fanatical priest who, with ax and flaming cross, leads an angry village mob in putting an end to the madness of the Zorn family.

"Demons of the Mind" is one of the strangest gothic films I've ever seen. Not as frightening as I had hoped it would be, but very creepy and disturbing. One can't help but frown upon how mentally ill patients must have been treated in the eighteen hundreds. Furthermore, most of the film's violence takes place during daylight hours. In some ways, this is good because we can see it all; however, it's not as frightening. A higher body count among the villagers would've helped the plot move faster. Most of the killings occur in the film's final ten minutes; the finale is quite gruesome and unique, and very sad. The fanatical priest steals the show.

Anchor Bay did an excellent job of restoring "Demons of the Mind." The picture and audio are excellent as though it was filmed yesterday.

I enjoyed "Demons of the Mind" tremendously. However, being partial to gothic horror, I realize that everyone might not appreciate it as much as I. Therefore, I recommend that you rent it first.

The movie was okay but not great, especially if one has seen any of the other Hammer movies. The script is a little jagged in the beginning so the plot is hard to follow but otherwise the acting is great as is the music and the scenery.

"Demons of the Mind" features a good cast but I would have liked a little more energy from them. Not to imply that the acting was bad, in fact it was quite good. It just seemed to lack a little stage presence that slowed the movie down even more. I'm not familiar with any of the actors (except for the doctor) so perhaps it is my own ignorance that led me to think this.

Basically it's an okay movie with some scary bits. I like Hammer Horror films (esp. the 1970's ones) and this one was fun. As someone else mentioned the terror in this movie is not a physical being but a mental state and contributes to the unusualness of the movie.

By the time this movie ends, if you've followed the incoherent plot, you probably won't even care about the characters. No character is developed beyond a sheet of stale cardboard, so we have rather empty people saying rather empty things. Hammer films always fell victim to some dialogue cliche (basically, all the follies of Gothic fiction) in order to keep the movie moving along, but this dialogue? Wow. And this plot? One long winding string of "I don't care" after another. There's something of a plot here: one guy is crazy; he's afraid his kids are crazy; he wants a doctor to cure them; the doctor says he can; the doctor then says that the children's "illness" is a result of the first guy exercising his "will" over the children; then the first guy tries to kill his kids. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there, the first gets weepy and frustrated over he and his wife's conjugal bed. Uh-huh. Or something like that. One reviewer said this movie has great scenery, and I agree; but the characters populating that scenery are the real problem -- especially in a movie that wants so desperately to be character-driven. A character-driven movie without characters is bound to fall flat on its face. And "Demons of the Mind" does exactly that. Sorry Hammer. Sorry Peter Sykes. Thanks for "To the Devil...A Daughter." That was a creepy, unnerving movie, and it was driven forcefully by good characters and interesting actors. Too bad you didn't keep this one on the shelf.