Twins of Evil is a 1971 horror film made by Hammer Film Productions — you know, the company that made cheap and cheesy horror movies in the 1960s and 70s, like all the Dracula, Frankenstein, and Mummy movies. This one is set in the Regency era in Germany and stars Hot Twins who get their boobs out. What more do you need for Halloween?
Sadly, no costume designer is credited on IMDB, so I can’t praise or mock him/her!
Apparently this is the third in a trilogy of horror films, following The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Lust for a Vampire (1971). I don’t think I’ve seen either, and it didn’t seem to be a problem that I hadn’t.
The movie is historical horror shlock, with gloomy castles, vampires, and bonus Puritans ranting about evil. The lead actresses are real-life twins who play Maria and Frieda, who have been orphaned and so leave their hometown of Venice to live with their uncle in Germany…. who turns out to be a ranting Puritan type…
who is busy (with his gang) burning random peasant women at the stake who they’ve arbitrarily decided are witches.
Maria is the good girl who gets a crush on local schoolteacher Anton…
Freida is baaaad, and sneaks out at night to hang with the local aristocrat Count Karnstein, who turns out to be a vampire.
It took me most of the movie to figure out what era it was supposed to be set in — I kept wavering between 17th century, Regency, and “ye oldey timey.”
I actually liked some of the sisters’ costumes, like these matching redingote-styled traveling outfits:
And these pink redingote-styled dresses were similarly cute:
Of course, they’re twins so ALL of their outfits had to match, right down to their sheer, ruffly nighties:
Both sisters were very much of the “I don’t care if it’s historically accurate, I just want my tits out” camp:
Count Karnstein was all puffy hair and big collars:
Uncle Gustav and his band of witch-hunters favored the 17th century Puritan look. Meanwhile, Anton rocked the brown cravat, which made him look like he was wearing a turtleneck.
And you get special bonus lesbian-interest-vampires-biting-boobs!
What’s your favorite Hammer horror film?
The wardrobe is credited to Rosemary Burrows who probably rented the suts and dresses from Angels and Bermans.
Thanks!
Another Hammer movie I need to see! I absolitely adore the campy Draculas with Christopher Lee, even if the costumes are a little iffy, they’re still pretty! (Like the yellow dress in Taste The Blood Of Dracula) :)
All the Karnstein films were based on Sheridan LeFanu’s “Carmilla,” and the other two were set firmly in the Regency. “The Vampire Lovers” starred Ingrid Pitt, and was the best of the three. The most stylish interpretation of the story was the much earlier “Blood and Roses,” aka “Mourir et Plaisir.”
I strongly disagree that the films were cheesy. They were definitely two cuts above Universal’s product. That they were more exploitative can’t be argued, but they were very good for their genre niche. Hammer and Amicus were both swamped by bigger budget films that started coming out in the 70’s, but for their time they were fine.
Thanks for speaking up for Hammer. Compared to what else was being produced in the horror genre at the time (roughly 1956-1976), they were in no way “cheap and cheesy”.
They were actually models of economic film-making, efficiently utilizing the country houses (like Oakley Court) owned or leased by the studio, along with sets and costumes from larger-budgeted films (“Countess Dracula” benefited from “Anne of the Thousand Days”).
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“You’ll be surprised when I tell you that they posed for Playboy after this movie.”
Actually, Mary and Madeleine Collinson were PLAYBOY’s first twin Playmates about a year before they did “Twins of Evil,” which was the last of seven films they did and the only one that gave them substantial roles.
The PLAYBOY publicity led to their only appearance in a major studio film as two of John Phillip Law’s many bed partners in Columbia’s adaptation of Jacqueline Suzanne’s smarmy best-seller “The Love Machine.”
Not surprisingly, both were voice dubbed in “Twins of Evil”, as were many screen beauties back in the day.
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“I was hopeful looking at their ringlets in their green traveling outfits, but they spent the rest of the movie with braided headbands.”
Based on their short hairstyles in the PLAYBOY shoot and in “The Love Machine”, you’re looking at hairpieces both ways.
Hammer Horror is my jam, though the costumes are always dreadful and the tits always make an appearance. Still fun in a “so so bad it’s good” way. And really, if the costumes were good it would take away from the experience. I’m particularly fond of any of the Cushing/Chris Lee films.
Was that Damien Thomas in one of the photos?
Yes indeed. Sort of giving “Aidan Turner swarthy sexy” before Turner was even born:
https://yooniqimages.blob.core.windows.net/yooniqimages-data-storage-resizedimagefilerepository/Detail/10233/20fb7635-b040-479a-96df-cbc9d3baf0db/YooniqImages_102331870.jpg
Yes indeed, bringing Aidan Turner-style “swarthy sexy” before Turner was even born:
http://tinyurl.com/hs4yc2r
The first film both Cushing and Lee were in was OIivier’s “Hamlet.” Cushing played Osric, and Lee was an uncredited spear-carrier.
I’m actually really crushing on those green velvet redingote/pelisse numbers, go figure…..and happen to have some moss green cotton velveteen in the stash………..