2. Demons Of The Mind (1972)
Superb, forgotten Hammer fare that has joyously been restored to public consciousness courtesy of our friends at the Horror Channel. A rich man believes that his bloodline is cursed and to mitigate the effects of this, he marries a peasant woman and has two children - a boy and a girl. However his bad blood affects the peasantry and his wife commits suicide. He locks up his son and daughter and bleeds them to get rid of this curse. Meanwhile, someone is killing off the young female peasants and there is a wandering priest stoking up local hysteria and superstitions. Behind it all there is a tale of madness, incest and Satanism. The director - Peter Sykes - ignores horror genre conventions to give a unique film its flavour. As per usual with Hammer there is a morbid sense of dread lingering in the movie's atmosphere. The cast is solid and the film is very well acted with Patrick Magee doing a terrific turn as a blabbering doctor who treats the children. Dealing with madness and incest, the storyline is quite shocking and lurid - but that makes it all the more enjoyable! It is definitely one of Hammer's stronger and darker films, and if you are fed up of looking at werewolves, vampires and mummies, Demons of the Mind is a refreshing change of pace for not just Hammer fans, but horror fans in general.