Thursday, 20 July 2017

231 Devils of Darkness ( 1965 )

 This  is  a  non-Hammer  British  movie  about  a  French  vampire  leading  a Satanic  cult. It  starts  promisingly  then  sags  badly  in  the  middle with  a  dull  lead  performance  by  William  Sylvester. It  eventually  improves  but  isn't  really  worth  the  effort.

Count  Sinistre  ( Hubert  Paul )  is  a  vampire  ruling  the  roost  in  a small  town  in  Brittany. A photographer  holidaying  there  Paul  Baxter  ( Sylvester )  loses  three  friends  there  but  the  local  police  aren't  interested .Paul  decides  to  investigate  once  back  in  London  but  is  pursued  by  Sinistre  who  needs  the  talisman  he  has  unwittingly  picked  up.

Carole  Gray  ( as  Tania )

Sex : No

Death : Killed  by  a  rockfall


As  Sinistre's  vampire  bride, Carole  plays  a  villainess  in  this  one. Before  that,  she  performs  a  very  energetic  gypsy  dance  routine.

Tracy  Reed ( as  Karen )

Sex : Karen  appears  scantily  clad  at  various  times

Death : Survives


Tracy  was  actually  Clare   Pelisser   a  well-connected  aristocrat  and  stepdaughter  of  film  director  Carol  Reed. She  often  appeared  on  the  brink  of  stardom  in  the  sixties  with  minor  roles  in  big  films  but  it  never  quite  happened  and  she  retired  in  the  mid-seventies, She  died  in  2012  aged 69.

Rona  Anderson  ( as  Anne  )

Sex : No

Death :  Burned  to  death  on  Sinistre's  orders


Rona  had  a  long  career  as  an  actress  going  back  to  the  late  forties  but  her  own  career was  overshadowed  by  that  of  her  husband  Gordon  Jackson  with  whom  she  starred  in  The  Prime  of  Miss  Jean  Brodie . She  retired  shortly  after  his  death  in  1990. She  died  in  2013  aged  87.

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