Review of Twins of Evil

Twins of Evil is set in Austria and begins with a Puritan sect called the 'Brotherhood' and lead by Gustav Weil (Peter Cushing) condemning a woodman's daughter (Judy Matheson) as a servant of the Devil and burning her at the stake. Maria (Mary Collinson) and Frieda (Madeleine Collinson) are sent to the small Austrian village to live with Gustav and his wife Katy (Kathleen Byron) after their parents die. A castle on top of a mountain which overshadows the village interests Frieda, she is told it belongs to Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas) and that he holds orgies and wild party's there, Karnstein is friends with the Emperor and has his protection against the 'Brotherhood'. One night soon after Maria and Frieda's arrival, Karnstein is relaxing in his castle when he decides he is bored by the entertainment that has been laid on that night by his employee Dietrich (Dennis Price, I don't know why he employees him as it's never made clear) and so to pass the time he stabs a woman in the stomach and makes a pact with the devil who sends Countess Marcalla (Katya Wyeth) to have sex with and turn him into a Vampire, I hope your following this. Frieda hates Gustav's strict dictatorial ways and the village in general. Count Karnstein interests Frieda even more when Gustav forbids her to even speak to him and she sneaks off at night to the castle to see him. Karnstein predictably turns Frieda into a Vampire. Frieda carries on as normal until she bites Dietrich's neck and kills him. Not yet satisfied Frieda also kills a member of the 'Brotherhood', unfortunately for her Gustav and his Puritan mates turn up as she's in the process of drinking his blood. Gustav must fight with his conscience and decide if he can burn his own niece at the stake. Karnstein finds out about Frieda's capture and decides to rescue her. Finally Gustav and Count Karnstein come face to face in a fight to the death! Directed by John Hough I thought this was poor. The script by Tudor Gates is slow and silly, the characters aren't very well written and I didn't feel anything for anyone. Karnstein is barely in it neither are the Collinson twins. There's little actual Vampirism to talk about. The ending is quite cool as Gustav and the Brotherhood storm Karnstein's castle and this sequence also features some decent but brief gore, a staking, someone has a machete stuck in their head and there's a cool decapitation. The production design was OK but I felt the music was bland and forgettable compared to other Hammer films. Peter Cushing as Gustav for me just wasn't right, his performance felt too 'forced' compared to what I would expect from Cushing and I never liked or felt at ease with his character. The Collinson twins who were apparently dubbed are predictably terrible and there is only one scene with any nudity from them. Damien Thomas makes for an extremely forgettable villain. Dennis Price has nothing more than a cameo and is in it for about 3 minutes total. Overall I just found far too many unlikable elements in this film and isn't a patch on some other Hammer Vampire films, Vampire Circus (1972) in particular. I just can't see why it has so many positive reviews, very disappointing.