We're then treated to a bit of top 70s lifestyle, as Anthony Valentine and Honor Blackman indulge in a quick game of "Mastermind". Incisive thinking there, from this particular expert on the occult. Verney lays his cards on the table by proclaiming: "98 per cent of so-called 'satanists' are pathetic freaks. This first death shows how far Hammer have come since the previous effort (Legend Of The Seven Golden Vampires) - it's uncompromising, realistic and very gory, something that the last film completely wasn't. Beddows is then menaced by a hired thug-type, who gets shot. Writer John Verney(Richard Widmark) is approached by nervey Henry Beddows (Denholm Elliot) at an arts exhibition, and for some reason agrees to look after the obviously unhinged man's daughter. It's a very po-faced film, which attempts to deal with the idea of satanism in a realistic way (it fails, of course) whilst punctuating the narrative with a variety of very gorey, violent, nasty deaths - and a couple of equally revolting births. What's more, there's actually very little humour in it, intentional or otherwise. It's so far removed from everything else they've ever done it can hardly be lumped in with the rest of them, but it's undoubtedly a classic. Hammer's last foray into the world of horror films is a very nasty little number indeed.
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