(1970, GB, 95 min) Dir Harold Andsley. Cast Leon Greene, Maria Pershy, Wilfrid Brambell.
The popularity of Dennis Wheatley transferred itself to the screen in the sixties and seventies via official channels, usually with Christopher Lee in the likes of The Devil Rides Out and To The Devil a Daughter. But really all you needed to ape his style was a country estate and an erudite tweed wearing man, right? Well here’s Death to the Devil! to try to prove this the case – indistinguishable from Wheatley or your money back! Okay so we don’t have Christopher Lee but we have Leon Greene – he was in The Devil Rides Out, wasn’t he? There you go. What about the infamous ‘Black’ Abbey as a location? No, it doesn’t exist, but we can make it up in the publicity and get the actors to say they saw strange things when they were filming. A floating old monk at the window or something, I don’t know… Okay, what next? Ah yes – a lovely lady, preferably in peril! How’s about Maria Pershy? She’s a right looker and European too so she’ll not mind being tied up in a slinky nighty. That’ll get the lads in if you get it up on the poster! Brilliant! And we’ll get Wilfrid Brambell in for some laughs too. Yeah, and we’ll get old Ron Beadle to shoot it. I know he don’t see too well these days but he’s cheap and he brings his own lights. Okay, what else do we need? That’s right – a script! Oh well, it seems we’ve run out of time. I guess we’ll do without!
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