Demons of the Mind is a 1972 British horror film, directed by Peter Sykes (Venom; The House in Nightmare Park; To the Devil a Daughter) from a screenplay by Christopher Wicking (Scream and Scream Again), based on a story by Frank Godwin. It was produced by Anglo-EMI, Frank Godwin Productions and Hammer Film Productions.
The film’s working title was Blood Will Have Blood. Gillian Hills played a role originally intended for Marianne Faithfull and Robert Hardy was a substitute for Eric Porter (Hands of the Ripper).
Main cast:
Gillian Hills (Blowup; A Clockwork Orange; The Killer Wore Gloves), Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann vocalist), Robert Hardy (Berserk!; Psychomania; Dark Places), Patrick Magee (Dementia 13; The Black Cat), Michael Hordern (Whistle and I’ll Come to You; Theatre of Blood; The Possession of Joel Delaney), Shane Briant (Straight on Till Morning) and Kenneth J. Warren.
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Plot:
Count Zorn, a wealthy widower, locks up Emil and Elisabeth, his two young adult offspring, afraid that they will go mad, as did his wife. He then invites Falkenberg, a doctor of dubious reputation, to supervise the young people’s mental health. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of their mansion, grisly murders are happening…
Reviews:
“an exotic, Wildean horror story, visually as extravagant and tantalising as a decadent painting … badly let down, though, by some grotesque overacting.” Time Out
“Although it is made with style …the content is meagre … The film’s principal distinction is its violence, mostly gratuitous and, in the case of the final bloodbath, thoroughly unpleasant.” Monthly Film Bulletin
“oblique, ambitious and suffused with an air of primal dread, Demons of the Mind deserved better.” Marcus Hearn, The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films
” … a complex and unusual film which is sometimes confusing but always compelling.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams
“flashes of great originality and panache …a lifeless performance from Robert Hardy. EMI hated the film.” David Pirie, A New Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema
“a strange, bleak tale of abnormal psychology in which Hammer’s characteristic period settings and horror-film clichés such as the raging mob are, for once, used with imagination.” The Curmudgeon
” … a right load of old cobblers, which mixes costume drama with cod psychology and ends with a particularly gruelling amount of hand loppings, shootings, stabbings, and burning-crucifix-impalings. What makes it worth seeking out are the performances – Hordern’s nutty priest is a sight to see, Hardy is his usual hammy self and Magee is… well, Magee.” British Horror Films
Artwork by Tom Chantrell
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Cast and characters:
- Robert Hardy as Zorn
- Shane Briant as Emil
- Gillian Hills as Elizabeth
- Yvonne Mitchell as Hilda
- Paul Jones as Carl Richter
- Patrick Magee as Falkenberg
- Kenneth J. Warren as Klaus
- Michael Hordern as Priest
- Robert Brown as Fischinger
- Virginia Wetherell as Inge
- Deirdre Costello as Magda
- Barry Stanton as Ernst
- Sidonie Bond as Zorn’s Wife
- Thomas Heathcote as Coachman
- Sheila Raynor as Old crone
Choice dialogue:
Falkenberg: “The world is chaos. We must try and find some order, in our small part of it.”
Zorn: “The world will be a better place without me! And it won’t even know you’ve died.”
Filming locations:
Wykehurst Park House, East Sussex (also the setting for The Legend of Hell House)
Trailer:
