The Devil Rides Out

(Terence Fisher, 1968) Talking Pictures TV, 9.05pm

A bestseller over decades, British novelist Dennis Wheatley was long considered by some to be the last word in pulp disrepute, not least for his enthusiastic mining of Satanist sensation. Featuring swashbuckling hero the Duke de Richleau, 1934’s The Devil Rides Out was clearly just waiting for Hammer Films to come along and adapt it, with Christopher Lee as the Duke. Scripted by the revered Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), this sees the Duke trying to save his nephew from worshippers of the Evil One or, as he’s more fancifully named here, the “Goat of Mendes”. Studio mainstay Terence Fisher directs, and Hammerphiles rate it as one of the studio’s classiest, a fullblown pentacular spectacular.