The Hand of Night

BEAST OF MOROCCO is about Paul Carver (William Sylvester) and his battle to recover after losing his wife and child. Upon arrival in Morocco, Carver discovers that the man he's there to see has died, adding to his grief.

Drunk and adrift, Carver wanders into a party where he meets a mysterious woman named Marissa (Aliza Gur). He also meets Chantal (Diane Clare), who appears to be the polar opposite of Marissa. Carver finds himself torn between the two, even after some dark experiences with Marissa that point to her being not quite human.

All of this is played out in a metaphorical way, using symbolism -based on traditional folklore- to represent Carver's struggle between darkness / death and light / life. Much of the film is dreamlike, like something that Jean Rollin might have made in his prime, minus Rollin's penchant for rampant nudity.

Certainly not your typical horror movie. Highly recommended for those who seek a different sort of cinematic experience...

William Sylvester (Carver) blames himself for the death of his wife and children in a car accident and has given up with life. He goes to Morocco to hopefully recuperate but he seems to have gained access to the ethereal world that is ruled by Aliza Gurr (Marisa), a dead princess who has put a curse on men she encounters as she wanders around at night-time.

It's not a particularly good film but it does hold an interest because of the different feel to it - it is set in Morocco with spacious vistas to take in and the storyline involves vampires in the desert.

The cast are not particularly wonderful. Apart from Sylvester and Gurr, only Terence De Marney (Omar), who plays a vampire henchman, does not attempt an accent. However, this very obviously looking Brit does not convince as an arab. As for the others in the cast, Diane Clare (Chantal) clearly can't act and is the worst offender when it comes to failing with an accent - it's really quite annoying.

Still, the film scores for being different - those poor gypsy belly-dancers!

William Sylvester plays an architect Paul Carver,whose wife and children died in a tragic car accident.He goes on a business trip to Morocco and meets a stunning dark-haired female vampire named Marisa.The opening scene of "The Hand of Night" is wonderfully atmospheric and weird with the use of skulls and bloodied mechanical bats.The film was shot in Morocco,so the location sets are magnificent.Alizia Gur is particularly memorable as a beautiful vampire,who feeds on hope.Paul is also an interesting character.He is grief driven,defeated and obsessed with death.The score by Joan Shakespeare is quite eerie,but the direction is pretty weak and some scenes are very dull.6 Morrocan vampires out of 10.

Daft and at times almost incoherent vampire tale.The problem is that if you a t o any degree tired when watching this film then you are bound to fall asleep at some point and thu loose the point of this abysmal film

Flatly directed would-be horror movie, consisting of long scenes of frequently stilted dialogue interspersed with garish dream sequences. Frederic Goode is one of the most obscure of all British film directors, and on this showing that's no surprise. He fails to bring any conviction to the film at all, and of the actors only veteran Edward Underdown emerges with any dignity. Even the usually dependable William Sylvester, who seems to have been sprayed with orange dye, is defeated by a script that persists in drivelling on about light and darkness to little effect. Filmed in 1966, this sat on the shelf for a couple of years, and makes for terminally tedious viewing.