DIRECTED BY: J. Lee Thompson
FEATURING: Sharon Tate, Donald Pleasance, David Niven, David Hemmings, Flora Robson
PLOT: A happy marriage descends into an odyssey of terror when a woman’s husband is
called to his ancestral estate by pagan heretics.
WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST: While Eye of the Devil tells a strange story, the occult genre always spins an unusual yarn. In this context, strange is normal. Aside from being well produced, Eye of the Devil is noteworthy only because it debuts the doomed Sharon Tate.
COMMENTS: Vineyard owner Marquis Philippe de Montfaucon (Niven) is called back to his castle when a drought withers the crop, upon which the entire region depends. His wife and children are supposed to remain in London, but of course she becomes curious and is compelled to intrude. Catherine de Montfaucon (Deborah Kerr) subsequently discovers that her husband is behaving in a secretive and peculiar manner. His personality has undergone a distinct change and he seems dreadfully grim and preoccupied. Why?
There are many mysterious comings and goings, some heavyweight clergy are milling around who appear to be legitimate, but why are the Marquis’ young cousins shooting medieval arrows at her, casting spells on her children, and trying to hypnotize her into leaping off of the castle parapets? And who the devil are those troublesome dark characters in black Franciscan monk’s robes, chasing Catherine about in the deep dark woods?
As Catherine snoops, she discovers mounting evidence of heretical pagan practices and that an extraordinary number of the Marquis’ antecedents met untimely deaths. Could there be a relation between the deaths and some profound event that her husband seems to be preparing for?
Flora Robson (The Shuttered Room) is creepy and aloof as always in her role as the Marquis’ Aunt. Sharon Tate (in her film debut) plays a sinister and threatening witch who turns frogs into doves and seems to perversely enjoy taking a good old fashioned horse whipping from the Marquis. David Hemmings (Blowup, Juggernaut) cavorts as her delightfully menacing, archery-happy brother. Eye of the Devil features crisp, striking, artful black and white cinematography by Erwin Hillier.
To me, the most interesting thing about this movie is that it seems to prefigure The Wicker Man (1973). Sadly this is not currently available on DVD, despite the attractive cast.