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

Episode 5: The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) : Rural Giallo, Postwar Italy, and the Haunted Landscape

In this episode of The Horror Double Bill, we journey deep into the unsettling beauty of the Italian countryside to explore The House with Laughing Windows (1976) and Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972). These two standout examples of rural gialli capture a nation in flux—reflecting the tension, suspicion, and isolation brought about by post-war migration from the south to the north of Italy.

We unpack the social, cultural, and historical upheaval that followed World War II, as Italy’s rural communities were transformed by internal migration, superstition, and deepening class divides.

Expect thematic analysis, behind-the-scenes details, historical research, and a deep dive into how horror can expose the fractures in national identity.

References & Sources used for this episode:

Books

So Deadly, So Perverse by Troy Howarth
La Dolce Morte : Vernacular Cinema and the Italian Giallo by Mikel J Koven
Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1970–1979 by Roberto Curti
Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci by Stephen Thrower
Milking the Moon by Eugene Walter
The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic edited by Clive Bloom

articles

https://brightlightsfilm.com/brutal-nobility-painting-death-house-laughing-windows-pupi-avati-1976/

Blu Rays

Don't Torture a Duckling Arrow video special edition blu ray - interviews and commentary
The House with Laughing Windows Shamless films special edition DVD - interview with Pupi Avati

#cultcinema #giallo #horrorpodcast #1970shorror #cinephile #classichorror #darioargento #eurohorror #luciofulci #pupiavati #eurohorror #europeanhorror #1970shorror

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Episode 4 – The Horror Double Bill: And Soon the Darkness (1970) & The Hitcher (1986)

In this episode of The Horror Double Bill, we explore two chilling roadbound nightmares that turn travel into terror. First, we examine And Soon the Darkness (1970), a sun-drenched British thriller where isolation in the French countryside gives way to dread. Then, we dive into The Hitcher (1986), a haunting, nihilistic American horror-thriller in which a lone driver picks up far more than he bargained for on the open road.

Both films use beautiful yet empty landscapes to generate feelings of isolation, and in this episode we discuss the use of space, cinematography, casting, and production stories, as well as the original critical reception and later re-evaluation of both films.

sources used for this episode:

And Soon the Darkness

StudioCanal Blu-ray (2021 edition):
https://www.studiocanal.com/

British Film Institute (BFI):
https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/and-soon-darkness-daylight-thriller

Little White Lies retrospective:
https://lwlies.com/articles/and-soon-the-darkness-1970-retrospective/

Film Stories article:
https://filmstories.co.uk/features/and-soon-the-darkness-1970-british-thriller/

Hammer and Beyond blog:
https://hammerandbeyond.blogspot.com/2012/06/and-soon-darkness-1970.html

Newspaper archives: The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times,

The Hitcher

The Hitcher (1986) – Second Sight Films 4K UHD Blu-ray Special Features (2024) : Interviews with Robert Harmon, Eric Red, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mark Isham, and John Seale:

https://secondsightfilms.co.uk/

"The Hitcher - How do these films get made" - feature included in the Momentum special edition DVD release.

Chris Broughton, “How we made chiller classic The Hitcher,” The Guardian, Oct 7, 2024:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2024/oct/07/rutger-hauer-chiller-classic-the-hitcher-thomas-howell

Roger Ebert, “The Hitcher,” Chicago Sun-Times review, 1986
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hitcher-1986#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Hitcher%E2%80%9D%20grants%20the%20Hauer,movie%20is%20diseased%20and%20corrupt.

Newsweek review by Jack Kroll (quoted in Los Angeles Times, 1986)
Daily Variety & The Hollywood Reporter reviews (1986), quoted in Los Angeles Times

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-23-ca-10847-story.html

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