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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Devil Rides Out, The (Blu-ray) (1968)

Devil Rides Out, The (Blu-ray) (1968)

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Released 6-Mar-2013

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Audio Commentary-Marcus Hearn, Christopher Lee, Sarah Lawson
Featurette-Making Of-Black Magic: The Making of The Devil Rides Out (33:37)
Featurette-The Power of Light: RestoringThe Devil Rides Out (11:34)
Featurette-Dennis Wheatley at Hammer (12:44)
Gallery-(4:58)
Trailer-Hammer Trailers including The Devil Rides Out
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1968
Running Time 95:41
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Terence Fisher
Studio
Distributor

Shock Entertainment
Starring Christopher Lee
Charles Gray
Leon Greene
Patrick Mower
Nike Arrighi
Paul Eddington
Sarah Lawson
Rosalyn Landor

Case ?
RPI ? Music James Bernard


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 1.0 (640Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 1.66:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

     The Duc de Richleau (Christopher Lee) and Rex van Ryn (Leon Greene) flew together in WW1 with Simon Aron’s (Patrick Mower) father. When Simon’s father died the two undertook to look after Simon so, years later, meeting for a reunion, they are aghast to discover that Simon has fallen under the spell of a cult of devil worshippers led Mocata (Charles Gray) and is about to be initiated into the coven. De Richleau and Rex rescue Simon and another young women, Tanith (Nike Arrighi), and take them to the home of de Richleau’s nephew Richard Eaton (Paul Eddington), his wife Marie (Sarah Lawson) and their young daughter Peggy (Rosalyn Landor). But Mocata is not prepared to let them go and unleashes the powers of darkness, including the Angel of Death, to get them back. It becomes a battle between Mocata and de Richleau, between the Lord of Darkness and the Lord of Light, good and evil, the prize being the souls of all involved.

     Based on the popular novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley, for The Devil Rides Out Hammer pulled out all their big guns in an attempt to start a new franchise based on the Wheatley “Black Magic” novels and break into the American market. Thus it stared Christopher Lee, was directed by Hammer’s go to director Terence Fisher, who directed 29 Hammer films in total including kicking off most of Hammer’s successful horror franchises, had superior production values and a score by Hammer stalwart James Bernard. The fact that the film was not as successful in the US as Hammer had hoped does not mean that The Devil Rides Out is poor; on the contrary, it is top notch Hammer horror and a film which Christopher Lee had said was his favourite Hammer film.

     It is not hard to see why Lee liked The Devil Rides Out for his de Richleau is a fascinating character that Lee plays to perfection. In a film about darkness and light, good and evil, de Richleau is not your whiter than white hero figure; he has knowledge of and skills in the black arts which he uses, in the interests of good of course, but he is by no means always on top of things. And every good film needs a powerful adversary and the charming yet malevolent Charles Gray is every bit Lee’s match. Nike Arrighi is also very good; she has screen presence but, as far as I can tell, she only appeared in one other Hammer film, Countess Dracula (1971), in a small part before marrying a Prince in Italy in the early 1970s and retiring from filmmaking.

     The plot of The Devil Rides Out is pretty straightforward although it is interesting that the resolution comes about as a result of the intervention of the female participants, rather than the males. This gives the film a modern feel although some sequences do look rather quaint, such as the back-projection during car sequences or the rather mild Satanic orgy in the woods. Some special effects were apparently not completed because of budgetary issues before the film had its theatrical run; during restoration these have been “enhanced” (details are in the extras and alternative version sections of this review). However Fisher directs with his usual aplomb, building tension out of things heard but not seen, while sequences such as the attack by the powers of darkness in the Eaton house are tense, atmospheric and well lit, nicely supported by James Bernard’s score. The production values in the sets, in the usual Hammer style, are detailed and beautiful to look at and the between the wars period cars are delightful. The result is a film that looks great, is well-acted, with a tight script and a good score.

     Some of the fun of Hammer films is watching actors who later become very prominent. In this case it is Paul Eddington, of Yes, Minister fame! Another thing to watch for in Hammer films is continuity errors. In this film, Rex is watching the coven in the woods in darkness, rings du Richleau who answers in broad daylight, but when he arrives at the woods it is dark again. Nothing vital, but fun to spot.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The Devil Rides Out is presented in the original 1.66:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using MPEG-4 AVC.

     The British ratings code screen which starts the film shows how the film might have looked before restoration with scratches and dirt. Restored, the film looks wonderful. I did not notice any marks or artefacts, detail on faces is great, the sets have superb detail and the colours are strong and bright. Blacks are solid and shadow detail very good, skin tones natural. Grain is present but nicely controlled.

     English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired are available is a clear white font. In the portion I sampled they missed only an occasional word.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 1.0 at 640 Kbps; the film was shown theatrically with mono sound.

     Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand. While this is a mono lossy audio, effects such as engines, the hooves of the Angel of Death and the score are crisp enough. The music by James Bernard is another atmospheric score, nicely aiding the visuals.

     There is obviously no surround or subwoofer use.

     I did not notice any hiss or distortion.

     Lip synchronisation looked fine.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Audio Commentary

     Marcus Hearn (Hammer Film historian) plus cast members Christopher Lee and Sarah Lawson watch the film. There are some gaps but this commentary is humorous as they make some scene specific comments, talk about the occult, Wheatley’s book and changes made in the film, the dubbing of Leon Greene’s Australian voice by Sarah Lawson’s husband, the score, the cast, the directing style of Terrence Fisher, the sets, the cars and the effects. Good fun and worth a listen.

Black Magic: The Making of The Devil Rides Out (33:37)

     Made in 2012 this is an excellent look at the film using film footage, still photographs and recent interviews with Hammer Film historian Marcus Hearn (who also directed this extra), screenwriter Richard Matheson, writer and actor Mark Gatiss, authors Jonathan Rigby (English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema), Phil Baker (The Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley) and David Huckvale (James Bernard, Composer to Count Dracula), original cast member Patrick Mower and Kiffy and Dan Stainer-Hutchins (children of special effects supervisor Michael Stainer-Hutchins). Matters discussed include the renewed interest in the occult and the “Black Magic” books of Dennis Wheatley in the mid-1960s, adapting the book for the screen, the special effects, director Terence Fisher, the cast, including Christopher Lee and Charles Gray, Hammer’s issues with the American distributors who renamed the film The Devil’s Bride as they thought the original title made the film sound like a western and James Bernard’s score. Interesting and informative.

The Power of Light: Restoring The Devil Rides Out (11:34)

     Also produced in 2012, Kiffy and Dan Stainer-Hutchins (children of special effects supervisor Michael Stainer-Hutchins) plus the owner and digital restoration artists at Cineimage talk about how they restored the optical effects of The Devil Rides Out with examples. It raises the interesting question of restoration vs improvement. For details of scenes affected see the alternative version section below.

Dennis Wheatley at Hammer (12:44)

     Authors Phil Baker, Marcus Hearn and Jonathan Rigby provide information about the life and times of Wheatley and his relationship with Hammer. In the late 1960s Hammer produced two very different films based on Wheatley books, The Devil Rides Out (which Wheatley liked) and The Lost Continent; neither did as well as Hammer had hoped, especially in America so Wheatley adaptations were shelved for a while until in 1975 Hammer filmed To the Devil . . . a Daughter, which Wheatley hated as his book had been changed so much. An interesting featurette, also produced in 2012.

Gallery (4:58)

     Approximately 80 black and white posters, film promotions, film stills and on set photographs. They advance automatically, with music.

Hammer Trailers

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     There does not seem to be a Region A US release at the moment of The Devil Rides Out. Our version is the same as the Region B UK release, although that has lossless LPCM 1.0 audio and includes an additional extra; a World of Hammer featurette entitled Hammer.

Summary

     The Devil Rides Out is not, despite what the American distributor thought, a western. Instead it is Hammer Horror at its best. With an excellent cast including Christopher Lee and Charles Gray, assured direction by Terence Fisher, quality production values and another excellent score by James Bernard, The Devil Rides Out is a treat not to be missed by fans of Lee or Hammer Horror.

     The film looks very good on Blu-ray, the audio is the original mono. The extras are excellent, making for a very good Blu-ray package.

     The Devil Rides Out is still available as a stand-alone Blu-ray / DVD release from Shock Entertainment but it is also included in Shock’s 17 disc Hammer Horror Blu-ray Collection. The specifications and extras on both releases are the same. That collection also adds two DVDs of World of Hammer featurettes produced in 1990, including the Hammer featurette that is included as an extra on the UK Blu-ray. Wonderful value for Hammer fans!

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Friday, December 30, 2016
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE