Demons of the Mind Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Demons of the Mind Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson March 25, 2021

In a rehashed audio commentary included on this Scream Factory disc, Australian director Peter Sykes and British screenwriter Christopher Wicking explain how they conceptualized certain characters in Demons of the Mind with a psychopathic condition sans any werewolves. Indeed, this is the first Gothic Hammer film without any monsters. Wicking and producer Frank Godwin, his friendly collaborator, came up with a treatment that emphasized a lycanthropic theme. But producer/Hammer chief Michael Carreras was thinking of his intended younger audience and wanted to dispense of any supernatural creatures. He also didn't want an older actor like Hammer stalwarts Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing to star in the picture. In the plot's backstory, Fischinger (Robert Brown), the village Ostler, does refer to a devouring creature that roamed the forest and connects it to the mysterious disappearance of a young peasant woman. The movie was initially titled Blood Will Have Blood, which borrows from Shakespeare's Macbeth. The finished film does retain that quote in a line of dialogue, though. For the role of the Bavarian patriarch, James Mason and Paul Scofield were considered but both passed on it. Eric Porter was then cast but he already committed to star in Hands of the Ripper (1971) so it went to veteran character actor Robert Hardy. Hammer tapped singer Marianne Faithfull to play the daughter of Zorn but she turned it down. Gillian Hills (Blow-Up, A Clockwork Orange) stepped in as her replacement. Wicking was doing some rewrites on Sykes's The Legend of Spider Forest (aka Venom, 1971) and recommended the Aussie to direct Demons of the Mind.

The movie opens in 1830 Bavaria. Inside the traveling coach, Elizabeth Zorn (Gillian Hills) has a dreamy flashback of her escape from Zorn Castle. Carl Richter (Paul Jones), a handsome woodcutter who's also a physician, takes her in and the two make love. Carol paddles his small boat on the lake with Elizabeth, who's in idyllic surroundings. Later while sauntering around, Elizabeth is blindsided by Klaus (Kenneth J. Warren), the Zorn family's bald-headed retainer, who kidnaps and returns her to the castle. Baron Friedrich Zorn (Robert Hardy) has kept Elizabeth and her brother Emil (Shane Briant) locked up and sequestered from each other ever since Zorn's wife committed suicide. The Zorn family has a history of centuries-old inbreeding. Friedrich married a peasant woman but upon learning of her virginal blood, he experienced a traumatic sexual encounter that eventually lead to her sliting her throat in front of Emil and Elizabeth. The baron believes that his offspring's blood is diseased so Aunt Hilda (Yvonne Mitchell) uses a scarificator kit to drain it. Friedrich has also hired Dr. Falkenberg (Patrick Magee), a hypnotist, to work on him and his children, who he fears will have an incestuous relationship. Falkenberg is based on the life and work of Franz Mesmer, the godfather of hypnosis, whose ideas and beliefs were also unpopular in his community. This is all part of the baron's plan to "cure" his son and daughter. In the meantime, village girls are disappearing in the forest. An overzealous priest (Michael Hordern) and a bunch of villagers reckon that demons are behind it. These suspicions and Carl's search for Elizabeth lead to the Zorn Castle. In a subplot, Klaus lures his lover, a pretty strumpet named Inge (Virginia Wetherell), to the castle where she'll dress up and perform in a "play" with Emil. Is this trap set by the baron and one of his dangerous ploys?

Baron Zorn surveys the family portrait.

Both Emil and Elizabeth strongly earn the audience's sympathy. Whatever actions they take over the course of the film can be attributed to the drugs and hypnosis subjected to them by their father. Shane Briant earned rave reviews for his performance in the play Children of the Wolf and proves himself an excellent film actor in his big-screen debut. The cast is uniformly terrific except for one weak link. Robert Hardy doesn't bring the authoritarian presence to the baron than say Vincent Price would have. This isn't to claim he delivers a poor performance. Hardy is fine as Zorn but tries too hard at times to be a menacing, paternalistic force.

Hammer didn't know what to do with Demons of the Mind and kept it on the shelf for a year. The studio paired it with Tower of Evil (1972) on a double bill in the UK and when that movie received awful reviews, it also doomed the box-office hopes of Demons. Sykes's film wasn't released in the US until 1974 but hardly received any attention from the national press.

Demons of the Mind Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scream Factory has issued Demons of the Mind on US Blu-ray using the MPEG-4 AVC encode. The film first received notice on home video when Winnie Bonelli of The News (Paterson, NJ) reviewed the 1986 VHS release in brief. She stated it's intended for "classic horror film lovers" and has "the stuff that nightmares are made of." When Demons began receiving DVD releases in the early 2000s, four labels (US Anchor Bay Entertainment, AU Universal, FR Studio Canal, and UK Optimum) presented it in the spherical ratio of 1.85:1. It was a fine transfer, although the R4 reportedly suffered from some macroblocking and comet trails. In 2017, Studio Canal released it in Germany as part of a 7-film Hammer Film Edition box set, which also included an stand-alone edition in the UK. All the BDs are displayed it in 1.66:1. I've studied the framings of each AR and the 1.66:1 allows for more head and shoulder room. The 1.85:1 shows more information on the sides. I'm unsure which one was the original exhibition choice in Britain. Demons also was included in a limited edition French box set distributed by Tamasa Diffusion in November 2020 under the title, Hammer: Tome 2, 1970-1976; Sex & Blood. The 4K scan was performed by Deluxe Restoration. Demons was then restored in 2K by UK-based Silver Salt Restoration under the supervision of Mark Bonnici. It seems that all Blu-rays are sourced from this scan and restoration. Skin tones are natural without any artificial touch-ups. Briant's face often appears pale à la a vampire (see Screenshot #12). The Anglo-EMI press booklet documents that "strong vivid colours" were added for the essential dramatic scenes. These vibrant and garish colors stand out splendidly on this transfer. According to the original press notes, production designer Michael Stringer and his art team added stained glass win­dows to the grand hall and staircase (see capture #2). The sunlight in the forest sometimes accents it with mist (see frame grab #5). Scream has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 33000 kbps.

Scream gives viewers twelve chapter stops for the 89-minute film.

Demons of the Mind Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1569 kbps, 24-bit). The lossless monaural mix is clean and without any analog-sourced hiss, background noise, or dropouts. The dialogue delivered by the British cast is crisp. It's more difficult to make out some of the words spoken in the forest scenes as opposed to those in the interiors at Zorn Castle. Harry Robertson composed what has to be one of his greatest scores: a rich and varied symphonic work with several themes. The short, staccato notes played by the strings pulsate on the front channels during a chase.

Scream delivers optional English SDH that are complete and accurate. They contain most characters' names in brackets. The transcription also gives specific nouns and adjectives for the sound f/x.

Demons of the Mind Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary by Author/Film Historian Steve Haberman - this feature-length commentary is a terrific track and a worthwhile listen. Haberman sees Demons of the Mind's story ideas and themes falling along the same lines as Roger Corman's adaptation of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher (1960). Indeed, Haberman finds commonalities between Poe's literature and Demons. Additionally, Haberman locates similar characters and a narrative thread in Forbidden Planet (1956), which he identifies as an influence on Demons. Haberman mentions that Demons became much wider know when Anchor Bay released it on DVD in 2002. A lot of his remarks are indebted to the information imparted by three of the filmmakers on the archived track. In sum, Haberman covers the gamut well. In English, not subtitled.

• Audio Commentary with Director Peter Sykes, Writer Christopher Wicking, and Actress Virginia Wetherell; Moderated by Author/Film Historian Jonathan Sothcott - Wicking and Sykes dominate much of the track. They supply many invaluable anecdotes about writing and directing Demons of the Mind. Sykes details the cuts he had to make to assuage the British censor. When she speaks, Wetherell makes the most of her time. She tells an unforgettable tale about when Hammer phoned to request that she strip all her clothes the evening before a scene inside Wykehurst Park House. She also recalls doing a nude scene for Kubrick in A Clockwork Orange that same year. A marvelous commentary! All four speak entirely in English. The track isn't subtitled.

• Blood Will Have Blood: The Making of DEMONS OF THE MIND (15:42, 1080p) - this featurette was initially included in Studio Canal's German box set, Hammer Film Edition, which contains Demons of the Mind and six other titles. SC also brought it over to the UK for its standalone 2017 BD/DVD combo pack. Interviewed are Kevin Lyons (editor of eofftv.com), Jonathan Rigby (author of English Gothic), Alan Barnes (co-author of The Hammer Story), and cultural historian John J. Johnston. The interviewees discuss the origins of the project, the cast and crew, and its unsavory critical reputation. The program offers a pretty good look overall at the making of the film. In English, not subtitled.

• NEW Interview with Camera Operator Neil Binney (3:41, 1080p) - in this recent interview, Binney recalls the manor where Demons of the Mind was filmed. He also remembers that its proprietor was a "reformed crook." Binney has the most to say about the hypnosis scene with the revolving candle where either a gaffer or a grip couldn't hold his chuckle. Binney also has some things to say about DP Arthur Grant. In English, not subtitled.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:57, 1080p) - EMI's original trailer for Demons of the Mind. It's presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. It's only been partially restored as small white specks and artifacts are visible in the frame. It also hasn't been color corrected. But it's in decent to good shape.

Demons of the Mind Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Demons of the Mind is arguably the most unusual and atypical picture Hammer has ever made. And yet it retains several of the tropes that are staples of the studio: on-location sets, period décor, nubile blondes, sex, and gore. Be advised that it's a deeply unsettling and disturbing film at times. It deftly counterbalances the beautiful with the horrific. Scream Factory delivers a gorgeous restoration of the film with a rock-solid uncompressed track of the original monaural mix. The two commentaries are replete with production nuggets and insights. This is rife for a major rediscovery. An ENTHUSIASTIC RECOMMENDATION for Demons of the Mind.