Anyone who sees this film for the first time really needs to remember when it was made and what there was to compare it with at the time. In 1957 this film was a pioneering work. The subject matter hasn't been effectively dealt with since - despite the mammoth budgets available to today's film makers.
The film's success is in it's simplicity. Scientists try to expose a Devil Cult for being fraudsters. They profess their innocence and are told to do their worse - which is exactly what they do.
Director Jacques Tourner makes up for an obviously tiny budget by weaving an extremely disturbing atmosphere throughout the film's pivotal moments. Those dissenters who carp on endlessly about whether or not the demon should have been included are arguing about the wrong issue, which is whether or not Tourner managed to effectively scare his target audience with an essentially psychological beast from the depths of Hell. He easily achieved this without showing the actual demon, but it should however be noted that the very last shot of the demon where it is shown for the only time in profile tearing poor Karswell to bits, is the only representation of a devil that I have ever seen that sticks rigidly to the earliest known wood cuts of demons. All you oculists out there - check out your old books, this film might be more of the real deal than you give it credit for. Remember that in 1957, the British public were still reeling from the witchcraft murders of Lower Quinton and Hagley Wood (do your homework on these murders!)
I honestly believe that this film addresses the subject of Black Magic in a far more sinister fashion than I have seen since. It is the 'Thinking Man's' Exorcist ... Watch it with an open mind !!!
The film's success is in it's simplicity. Scientists try to expose a Devil Cult for being fraudsters. They profess their innocence and are told to do their worse - which is exactly what they do.
Director Jacques Tourner makes up for an obviously tiny budget by weaving an extremely disturbing atmosphere throughout the film's pivotal moments. Those dissenters who carp on endlessly about whether or not the demon should have been included are arguing about the wrong issue, which is whether or not Tourner managed to effectively scare his target audience with an essentially psychological beast from the depths of Hell. He easily achieved this without showing the actual demon, but it should however be noted that the very last shot of the demon where it is shown for the only time in profile tearing poor Karswell to bits, is the only representation of a devil that I have ever seen that sticks rigidly to the earliest known wood cuts of demons. All you oculists out there - check out your old books, this film might be more of the real deal than you give it credit for. Remember that in 1957, the British public were still reeling from the witchcraft murders of Lower Quinton and Hagley Wood (do your homework on these murders!)
I honestly believe that this film addresses the subject of Black Magic in a far more sinister fashion than I have seen since. It is the 'Thinking Man's' Exorcist ... Watch it with an open mind !!!