Episode Six: Night of the Eagle (1962) & The Devil Rides Out (1968). Must be the season of the witch......

Welcome to The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where we combine two films, and fall down several rabbit holes, to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

First up is Night of the Eagle, from 1962, released in the US as Burn Witch Burn, in which professional rivalries on a college campus spill over into something far more primal and far more ancient. We follow that with my favourite hammer movie, The Devil Rides Out from 1968, which was released in the US as The Devil’s Bride, in which Christopher Lee, rather unusually representing the forces of good, battles for the soul of a young friend against the power of darkness.

Along the way we will be discussing the rise of interest in the occult in the 1960s, changing attitudes in British censorship, the career and work of Richard Matheson, the life of notorious occultist and the ‘wickedest man in the world’ Alistair Crowley, and more.

Sources:

Background:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/25/richard-matheson
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/richard-matheson-dead/2013/06/24/7c1bc0f6-dd38-11e2-9844-8979d66cdd71_story.html
https://variety.com/2013/film/news/richard-matheson-dies-at-87-1200505071/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Matheson
https://www.mopop.org/science-fiction-fantasy-hall-of-fame/inductees/richard-matheson/
English gothic classic horror cinema 1897 to 2015 by Jonathan Rigby

Night of the Eagle:

Audio commentary and special features on the special edition Blu-ray release of Night of the Eagle from Imprint films
https://www.bostonmovienews.com/burn-witch-burn-revival
https://www.blackgate.com/2014/02/15/lust-women-and-the-devil-seven-decades-of-conjure-wife
PeterWyngard.uk

The Devil Rides Out:

Various features from the Criterion Blu Ray release of The Devil Rides Out, including cast commentaries and the documentary “Black Magic The Making of the Devil Rides Out’ Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley by Phil Baker
Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company by Howard Maxford
The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes
Hammer And Beyond: The British Horror Film by Peter HutchingsA History of Magic – Richard Cavendish
Aleister Crowley: The Biography – Tobias Churton
“The Neverendingly Occulted Aleister Crowley” – Marco Pasi, Numen
https://www.bl.uk/people/aleister-crowley
https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/aleister-crowley/zvjvscw