{{Short description|1972 British film by Peter Sykes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2014}} {{Use British English|date=November 2014}} {{Infobox film | name = Demons of the Mind | image = Demons of the Mind FilmPoster.jpeg | alt = | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = Peter Sykes | writer = Christopher Wicking | story = Frank Godwin | producer = Michael Carreras<br/>Frank Godwin | starring = Paul Jones<br>Patrick Magee<br>Yvonne Mitchell<br>Robert Hardy<br>Gillian Hills<br>Michael Hordern<br>Kenneth J. Warren | cinematography = Arthur Grant | editing = Chris Barnes | music = Harry Robinson | studio = Frank Godwin Productions<br/>Hammer Film Productions | distributor = MGM-EMI Distributors | released = {{Film date|1972|11|05|df=yes}} | runtime = 89 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = £250,000<ref name="Gilbert">{{cite magazine|url=https://issuu.com/libuow/docs/cinemapaper1977julno013 |first=Basil |last=Gilbert|title=Peter Sykes|magazine=Cinema Papers|date=July 1977|pages=36}}</ref> or £190,000<ref>{{cite book|title= Hammer Films: The Elstree Studio Years|first=Wayne|last= Kinsey |year=2007|page=295}}</ref> }} '''''Demons of the Mind''''' is a 1972 British horror film, directed by Peter Sykes and starring Paul Jones, Gillian Hills, Robert Hardy, Patrick Magee, Michael Hordern and Shane Briant.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Demons of the Mind |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150016524 |access-date=23 December 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was produced by Anglo-EMI, Frank Godwin Productions and Hammer Film Productions, and written by Christopher Wicking, based on a story by Frank Godwin.
== Plot == A wealthy widower locks up his two grown-up children, afraid that they will go mad, as did his wife. He then invites a doctor of dubious reputation to supervise their mental health and cure them of the unnatural attraction they have for each other. Meanwhile, in the vicinity of the mansion, murders are happening in the local village and a travelling priest arrives to help drive out any local demons.
== Cast == * Robert Hardy as Zorn * Shane Briant as Emil * Gillian Hills as Elizabeth * Yvonne Mitchell as Hilda * Paul Jones as Carl Richter * Patrick Magee as Falkenberg * Kenneth J. Warren as Klaus * Michael Hordern as priest * Robert Brown as Fischinger * Virginia Wetherell as Inge * Deirdre Costello as Magda * Barry Stanton as Ernst * Sidonie Bond as Zorn's wife * Thomas Heathcote as coachman * Sheila Raynor as old crone
== Production == Finance came from EMI Films.<ref name="four">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-moguls-nat-cohen-part-four-cohen-vs-bryan-forbes-1969-71/|magazine=Filmink|access-date=24 January 2025|date=24 January 2025|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|title=Forgotten British Moguls – Nat Cohen Part Four: Cohen vs Bryan Forbes (1969-71)}}</ref>
The film's working title was ''Blood Will Have Blood''.{{sfn|Hearn|Barnes|2007|p=155}} "Hammer thought there were too many bloods," said Wicking later. "I don't think anybody knew it was a quote from Shakespeare because they would have said no to that."<ref name="chris">All's Well That Ends: an interview with Chris Wicking ''Monthly Film Bulletin''; London Vol. 55, Iss. 658, (Nov 1, 1988): 322.</ref>
Producer Frank Godwin said " I wanted to retain my independence, and not be regarded as a Hammer 'stooge', it was agreed that the film would be a Hammer production in association with Frank Godwin Productions. This proved important because it enabled us to break all the Hammer rules, shooting a huge amount on location, even interiors.... Most of the casting, too, was not typical Hammer."<ref name="god">{{cite magazine|magazine= Journal of British Cinema & Television Date|date=1 May 2007|first=Melanie|last=Williams|volume=4|issue=1|title=The Creative Producer: Frank Godwin |page= 140-149 at p 147}}</ref>
Principal photography took place from 16 August to September 1971.{{sfn|Hearn|Barnes|2007|p=155}} Much of it was shot in Bolney in Surrey, where a castle had been built by a German banker.<ref name="god"/>
Peter Sykes was hired after Hammer were impressed by his work on ''Venom''. The movie was based on the life of Franz Mesmer.<ref name="Gilbert"/>
Wicking says "there was a sort of snobbery about" the film "which I think is a bad thing."<ref name="chris"/> He says Sykes wanted Paul Scofield and then Dirk Bogarde and when neither of them wanted to do it, Hammer felt they could not ask their usual leading men, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and the role was given to Robert Hardy, which Wicking thought was a mistake.<ref name="chris"/> Frank Godwin said Eric Porter was going to star but Porter changed his mind after seeing a mock up poster of the film and deciding he no longer wished to do horror movies.<ref name="god"/>
Sykes said the film was well reviewed and has become a cult film but was a commercial disappointment. "It wasn't a recognisable subject; there was no Frankenstein in it," said Sykes.<ref name="Gilbert" />
== Critical reception == ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "''Demons of the Mind'' opens with a coach rattling through the forest and closes with torch-wielding villagers descending on the wicked Baron. But although it is made with style (Peter Sykes proves adept at recreating the oppressive atmosphere of Hammer's earlier films), the content is meagre, and unfortunately the days are past when a string of horror-film clichés (terrified coachmen, beautiful screamers, crimson rose) could stand in lieu of a plot. It may be a measure of the makers' intentions that the part played by Gillian Hills was originally meant for Marianne Faithfull (former pop idol Paul Jones still plays the male lead); but with the script providing few pointers, the three juveniles manage only shallow performances, while Michael Hordern and Patrick Magee plump for gross overplaying. The film's principal distinction is its violence, mostly gratuitous and, in the case of the climactic bloodbath, thoroughly unpleasant."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1972 |title=Deep End |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305834220 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=39 |issue=456 |pages=229 |id={{ProQuest|1305834220}} }}</ref>
''Time Out'' called the film "an exotic, Wildean horror story, visually as extravagant and tantalising as a decadent painting" that is "badly let down, though, by some grotesque overacting".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Milne |editor-first=Tom |year=1991 |title=The Time Out Film Guide |publisher=Penguin Books |edition=Second |page=167}}</ref>
''The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films'' wrote of the film: "oblique, ambitious and suffused with an air of primal dread, ''Demons of the Mind'' deserved better."{{sfn|Hearn|Barnes|2007|p=155}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == * {{cite book |last1=Hearn |first1=Marcus |last2=Barnes |first2=Alan |title=The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films |chapter=Demons of the Mind |publisher=Titan Books |date=September 2007 |edition=Limited |isbn=978-1-84576-185-1}}
== External links == * {{IMDb title|0066982}}
{{Peter Sykes}} {{Hammer Horror}}
Category:1972 films Category:Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Category:Hammer Film Productions horror films Category:1972 horror films Category:Films directed by Peter Sykes Category:Films set in country houses Category:British gothic horror films Category:EMI Films films Category:1972 English-language films Category:1972 British films Category:Films scored by Harry Robertson Category:English-language horror films