Cross of the Devil

To begin with, I only became aware of this one last year: I was immediately intrigued, however, due to director Gilling's involvement (which, apparently, irked Spanish film unions and eventually proved to be his swan-song) but also for being an unofficial entry in the popular Knights Templar/Blind Dead series. The script (adapted from stories by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, a Spanish author of horror tales in the vein of Edgar Allan Poe) was originally supplied by yet another cult figure, Jacinto Molina aka Paul Naschy, who would end up fired by the director (despite the two reportedly having been friends!) both in this capacity and as the film's leading man!!

Anyway, the end result may be slow-starting but it subsequently emerges a gripping effort, not to mention a stylish and (undeniably) atmospheric one; incidentally, as was the case with the recently-viewed THE WOMAN WITH RED BOOTS (1974), there was an unexplained discoloration in the image during fog-bound night-time sequences! Another asset with respect to the film under review is that it is well-cast: this extends to Ramiro Oliveros – who replaced Naschy (the latter would, in any case, have been wrong for the part) – whose novelist hero is forever doubting events due to his copious intake of hashish! Even so, the dominant presence is definitely that of bald-headed, bearded and memorably sinister Adolfo Marsillach (father of Cristina from Dario Argento's OPERA [1987]!): his eventual revelation as the villain of the piece was hardly a surprise, but his true identity still provided a sting in the tail!

Typically effective, too, is Emma Cohen (who actually leaves a more lasting impression than nominal, and top-billed, leading-lady Carmen Sevilla): she had been equally notable in an earlier Naschy vehicle, HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB (1972), as well as the nasty Spaghetti Western CUT-THROATS NINE (1972) and, best of all, Jess Franco's restrained psychological thriller THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR (1973; in which Oliveros also appears). Here, she is actually an apparition, doomed to be constantly pursued by the Templars (right from the opening moments of the film, in fact!)…until 'freed' by the hero at the climax, as he fights off her assailants with a sword she had directed him towards found in the very ruins of a monastery where they rise every All Saints' Day! Also on hand are a somewhat glum Eduardo Fajardo, Fernando Sancho (in unusually servile mode) and Monica Randall in a small but pivotal role (she would also be given prominence in the Naschy-directed INQUISITION [1976]).

Though its pedigree obviously points in the direction of the Hammer, Blind Dead and the typical Naschy films, with a bit of the Giallo (by way of a masked killer on the loose!) thrown in for good measure, perhaps the biggest compliment one can level at THE DEVIL'S CROSS is that it particularly brought to mind Mario Bava's KILL, BABY…KILL! (1966) – not just in the overall look but also the complexity of its narrative (notably the ironic and downbeat coda). In the end, whatever Naschy's contribution was to the finished film, this can surely be counted among the best Spanish horrors out there and, consequently, ought to be more readily available...

This is largely a word and exposition driven film. It's slickly made and well acted, it's as slick or slicker than Gilling's Hammer films which suffer when compared to the perfectly crafted films of Terence Fisher done at the same time. He has his own style of writing and directing that does separate his work from the rest of Hammer in a unique way. So I was always wanting to see this final film.

There are few appearances of the Templars in this film and they are few and far between. The journey of the hero is to get to the spot his sister died where there is a Cross of the Devil. But it takes almost the entire length of the film to get there and people just talk and talk endlessly and when you are watching subtitles it's hard to even "watch" the nice scenery they travel through. The talk mostly is exposition about the interesting history of the Templars. But those stories all sound like they'd make better more action filled films than this one. It's not the pace of the film that's slow it's the overly talking script and lack of much real "incident" in the film. There is some nice camera movement and the few wordless moments are effective. Few scares though there is a memorable sequence with a solitary eye emerging from the shadows. Frankly that's about as exciting as the middle part of this film gets. Again as you watch just expect very few Templars and that will help some. Nice music score but there isn't much sinister or scary action of score. One assumes Naschy's original script had less talk and more action. This isn't Gilling's worst film but it's not his best. Too bad he didn't get to make more films, but you have to hope if he had they'd be more exciting than this one.

Obscure, strangely hard to find Spanish mid seventies movie that has been described as the unofficial fifth Blind Dead. This would be over egging things because although this solid and well made film alludes to the Templars and promises us a reprise of the zombie horsemen, in that respect this is a bit of a let down. It is a similar tale to that of the Amando de Ossorio films but despite a fine cast and decent dialogue, this is a bit too 'talky' and although we see a dream sequence of the horsemen tormenting a girl early on, it is brief and bloodless. Indeed the whole film is rather lacking in bite and the limited action half hearted. Its a shame because with everyone working so hard and the film looking so good, this could so easily have been really good.

This story is based on some writings by famous poet Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, as ¨Mount of Animas¨, ¨Miserere¨ and ¨Devil's cross¨. This is a Spanish film but the director is John Gilling , a master of Hammer production. Gilling was on holidays in Spain and Paul Naschy or Jacinto Molina asked him to make this movie . Being shot on various Spanish locations in Talamanca del Jarama , Casa de Campo, Madrid , and Escalona, Toledo, Castilla-La Mancha . The film is starred by all the best Spanish cinema actors: Carmen Sevilla , Adolfo Marsillach , and Eduardo Fajardo , Fernando Sancho , both of whom made many spaghetti Westerns .

The plot is a mess of ghosts and skull crusaders, a rip-off of the zombies of Amando De Ossorio who, by that time realized many creepy films about the blind Templar Zombies, today deemed semi-classics. However, the movie is dreary and dull . Gilling's direction is boring , it's too far from Hammer film but for a Spanish film is OK. Many years later would come Alejandro Amenabar and his successful horror pictures.

The motion picture was middlingly directed by John Gilling . He was a good craftsman , a notorious writer/producer/director who worked for the prestigious Hammer Films , developing a long career making movies of all kinds of genres , such as : The Gilded Cage, The Guilty Person, The Embezzler, Double Exposure, Escape by Night, Recoil , Deadly Nightshade , The Voice of Merrill, The Frightened Man , The Quiet Woman ; but he stands out in Horror genre , such as : The Plague of the Zombies, Panic , The Mummy's Shroud , The Gamma People, Mother Riley Meets the Vampire , Devil's Cross, The Reptil and The Flesh and the Fiends.

Often said to be the unofficial fifth chapter in the "Blind Dead" series, John Gilling's "La Cruz del Diablo" (The Devil's Cross) easily tops his predecessors, and is among the very best horror films to have come out of Spain. The story follows a writer who has a series of drug addicted hallucinations involving the Templars. When he goes to Spain visit his sister, only to find that she died by the time he got there, he decides to investigate, and tries to find a connection between her death and his horrifying visions. While many have called it a mere cash-in on Amando de Ossorio's infamous series, it's actually a much more accurate and throughly superior adaptation of the writings of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, which also served as inspiration for "Tombs of the Blind Dead". Like Béquer, less emphasis is given to the Templars themselves, and the whole affair is more of a character-driven piece, that is not devoid of symbolism and ambiguity. I have to give credit to Ossorio, since his Templars are much creepier than those presented here, but I liked how Gilling went for something different, and kept them more in the shadows. Originally intended as a Paul Naschy vehicle, one can clearly see how this could've become just another 70's Spanish horror, but Gilling's direction makes the total difference. A Hammer Horror veteran, Gilling combines the more sophisticated, polished style of his British contemporaries and combines it with the more raw, grittier appeal of Spanish Gothic. There's a bit of Italian horror in there as well, "Kill Baby ... Kill!" and "Castle of Blood" to be more precise, and one can argue that the black-gloved killer is a nod to gialli. Judging from this combination, it is suffice to say that the visuals are simply jaw-dropping, making great use of the beautiful Spanish locations, which land to the ever-present fairytale-ish aspects of Bécquer's work, as well the use of actual ruins and atmospheric, candle-lit interiors. The sometimes eerie, sometimes romantic score by Ángel Arteaga matches the off-beat yet strangely poetic tone perfectly. The acting is also surprisingly decent, with a cast of familiar faces from the continental horror scene of the 70's. Ramiro Oliveros and Emma Cohen, who already acted together the previous year in Jess Franco's excellent "The Other Side of the Mirror" are particularly remarkable as the drug-addicted protagonist and his ghost lover respectively, although one cannot help but wonder how would Naschy turn out in the former's role. Carmen Sevilla makes for a strong and likable heroine, and Eduardo Fajardo is good too, although he seems to be playing Francis Lehar from "Lisa and the Devil" all over again (ironically, the way his corpse is positioned near the ending is almost exactly the same as in "Lisa". The highlight among the performers is certainly Adolfo Marsillach as the mysterious assistant to Fajardo's character. He has screen presence to boot, and is just so effortlessly creepy in his relatively low-key performance. There are no big flaws in the film as far as I'm concerned, although one could argue to that the final battle between the protagonist and the Templars is somewhat anti-climatic, and the pace might be a little too slow (think "The House with Laughing Windows"). Overall, an excellent and extremely underrated horror film worthy of rediscovery. Fans of Gothic horror and slow-burns just can't afford to miss it.