Tits. That pretty much defines the later Hammer horror pictures, notably what is known as the Karnstein trilogy, consisting of THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, LUST FOR A VAMPIRE, and today’s tasty morsel, TWINS OF EVIL. Tits certainly play a big part in the film, so much so that I imagine some cute critic/blogger somewhere has called it TITS OF EVIL. I would never ever sink so low, although were I making a sequel, it would certainly be called FANGS FOR THE MAMMARIES.

Four of the tits are very prominent indeed, as they belong to Playmate twins Mary and Madeleine Collinson, who play Maria and Frieda, although I’m never sure which one plays who. Anyway, they’re in town to stay with their uncle, the supreme Peter Cushing who here is playing another kind of tit, a puritanical monster akin to Vincent Price in WITCHFINDER GENERAL, hunting down and burning enemies of the man upstairs. Fighting against his crusade is THE BEYOND‘s David Warbeck, who is understandably attracted to the twins. And their tits.

The plot is pretty standard fare, with one of the twins being corrupted by the local vampire, meaning Cushing has to try and track her down. But it’s done with such fun and relish that it works brilliantly, and the performances are at the heart of that. Cushing is a monster, and I give real credit here for his frightening performance, which frankly is scarier than the slightly campy dude playing head vamp. The twins are pretty good themselves, and work pretty well in both evil and non-evil modes (still have no idea which is which).

The production values seem pretty high and as a result the film looks good. The music is excellent, really atmospheric and propelling, and quite complex at times. But the film really belongs to Cushing, he is fantastic and as a result this is one of Hammer’s best.

Oh, and there’s some nice tits in there too.