MovieChat Forums > Twins of Evil (1971) Discussion > Just saw it for the first time, and ...

Just saw it for the first time, and ...


Hey there,

I saw that movie on Blu-ray for the first time, and yes, I was disappointed.

WARNING: this post contains spoilers!


I was expecting another "The Vampire Lovers". That movie had atmosphere, the main actress (Ingrid Pitt) was beautiful, her character was seductive AND dangerous AND tragic at the same time. There were good horror scenes, well made erotic scenes and an interesting story that was suspenseful.

And "Twins of Evil"? I mean, the title alone was misleading, because just ONE of them is evil. The other one remains good all the time.

Let me list my problems with this movie:

1.) I knew how the story was going to end even before I saw the movie, I knew that the vampire (Karnstein) was going to die, that Cushings character will die, and that there is a young man who loves the good sister and rescues her. And after a few minutes watching there was no suspense at all. I knew what was going to happen.
So my problem is the story, which was absolutely predictable, there were no surprising plot twists.
(Ok, to be fair, I have to admit in "The Vampire Lovers" there is also a young man who rescues the female hero at the end, although in the novel "Carmilla" there is no love story).

2.) That´s a main problem I have with the HAMMER-movies. I just saw a few, but everyone of them has the same ending - the good wins, the bad loses. Think of Polanskis "Fearless Vampire Killers" - why couldn´t Hammer just do an ending like this? Whenever I watch a new Hammer movie, I know that the main heroes won´t die or become evil or whatever. I mean, it´s a HORROR-movie, not a romance. Why couldn´t you just do another kind of ending?

Maybe you will say "Yes, but in "Vampire Lovers" the ending is a good one as well. That´s true, BUT: it was surprising who dies or become evil. Think of that blonde "older" woman. She was seducted by Carmilla and was "evil" after that. Even the man who was fighting against Carmilla because he knew she was evil was seducted and then killed by her. Just when you think "Ah, THAT´S the main hero, he is good" you see that you are wrong.

When I watched "Twins of Evil" I thought, after the bad sister died and the good one was captured by Karnstein, he will make her a vampire as well, so she becomes evil too (and the title would be correct). But no. No surprises and plot twists there.


3.) A big problem are the twins. Carmilla from "The Vampire Lovers" was a good actress, as I mentioned, dangerous, seductive and tragic at the same time. But these two young ladies can´t act, especially not the evil one. It was not very subtle how the good one was always doubtful and can´t hear or watch bad things while the bad one was very cheeky and recalcitrant. She also becomes evil out of nowhere. Suddenly she wants to go to the castle, and suddenly she says "Yes, I want to kill someone". There is no development of the characters at all, it looks more like a caricature then a real person.
Don´t get me wrong, I´m not expecting a character-study like in an Ingmar Bergman or Federico Fellini-movie, but those charaters are very facile, while Carmilla in "Vampire Lovers" was more realistic, she was an interesting character, and you never knew what was going on in her mind.

4.) Yes, even the erotic scenes are disappointing. Again I compare that movie to "Vampire Lovers". In "Vampire Lovers" the erotic scenes were tasteful and estethic AND they made sense for the story.

But in "Twins of Evil"? First, you have an absolutely unnecessary sex-scene between Karnstein and Carmilla. What was that for? And what about that stupid scene when she rubs the candle stick in an explicite way? That´s not erotic, that´s stupid in my opinion.

The next scene is the one where the evil twin bites the other women. That scene was also not good. The acting was terrible from both her and the woman, and when she bites her, you can CLEARLY see that she doesn´t touch the skin.

And the third scene was when the bad twin was getting naked. That was also quite boring, there was no playfulness like in "Vampire Lovers", it was just "Hey, look at me, I´m naked, look at my breasts". And during the fight you can see at one time her grotch ... I know, it´s the 70s, but THAT doesn´t look very good. It seems the hair was growing even on her belly. Even THAT looks better on Carmilla ...

Even the scene with the evil twin as a vampire are ridiculous. She does nothing but standing around and biting people without a word. Carmilla was much better, she was working with the way she looked at someone, or she was saying things, makes suggestions etc.

Here, you have the feeling that the director just said "Ok, you walk towards him, smile at him and then bite him".

5.) I was also disappointing that the twins doesn´t have much screentime together. Most of the time they are just sitting or standing side by side looking pretty. There is just one interesting scene for me, it´s the first scene when they are talking in the bedroom about Cushings character. In that scene they talk normal. But after that, the evil twin is threatening her sister all the time, and doesn´t have a problem if her sister gets burned instead of her.

6.) There are many logical plot holes. The biggest one for me is, that the good twin, after getting caught by mistake, doesn´t say "I´m not Frieda!", and she doesn´t say "I´m not a vampire! Show me a cross, and you will see". She doesn´t say a word.

And: after the evil twin was decapitated, her sisters feels it and says "I must find her!". But why? She was threatened and betrayed by her sister, she knew that she was changing her clothes so SHE would be burned, and after all that she cares for her?
That doesn´t make any sense, but I guess the scriptwriter thought "Well, let her search for her sister, so she meets Karnstein, get caught by him and we have a great finale".


No, that movie was a disappointment for me.

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