Christopher Lee and Hammer take on Satan himself when THE DEVIL RIDES OUT on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Upon the latest reunion of war buddies American Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene, THE SEVEN PER-CENT SOLUTION) and French Duc de Richleau (Lee), they discover that Simon Arohn (Patrick Mower, MONELLA) – the son of their late British colleague who entrusted his well-being to them – has fallen in with a bad crowd: Satanists lead by the charismatic Mocata (Charles Gray, THE BEAST MUST DIE) and that they are on the eve of conducting a Black Mass in which Simon will be initiated into the cult of thirteen. Despite Van Ryn's skepticism, he helps Richleau abduct Simon but the younger man is soon compelled back to the fold; whereupon, Van Ryn kidnaps young cultist Tanith (Niké Arrighi, THE PERFUME OF A LADY IN BLACK) with the hope of learning Simon's whereabouts only to discover that she too is to be initiated at the Black Mass. Van Ryn and Richleau literally crash the festivities and rescue to the younger pair and take shelter at the home of Richleau's niece Marie Eaton (Sarah Lawson, ISLAND OF THE BURNING DOOMED). The skepticism of Marie's husband Richard (YES MINISTER's Paul Eddington) at first seems like the weak link that may allow Mocata to infiltrate the Eatons' home, but Mocata has other means of manipulation and some formidable supernatural allies at his disposal.

An adaptation of the Dennis Wheatley novel, one in a series of Duc de Richleau adventures and also one of the handful of occult novels he wrote which were all reprinted around the time, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT embodies the best of Golden Age Hammer elements from the direction of Terence Fisher (HORROR OF DRACULA), the scoring of James Bernard (THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN), production design by Bernard Robinson (THE WITCHES), and the photography of Arthur Grant (REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN) at a time when the studio's output became more diverse but not always consistently good. For all the film's classic Hammer vibe, it also shows more of an adventurous branching out than some of the earlier Hammer/Seven Arts entries like their pair of double bills DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS/PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and RASPUTIN, THE MAD MONK/THE REPTILE with authoritative Lee as an all-too-rare heroic lead, a more charismatic villain in Gray, and a good supporting turn from Lawson as a Hammer female who gets to scream but also shows more resolve not only staring down Mocata but also her husband's response to the credulity she gives to Richleau's talk of the supernatural before he gets to see it himself. Like Hammer's THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and its source story, the script does need to contrive reasons for Lee to disappear for stretches of the middle for Greene to romance Arrighi, the dull romantic subplot being a staple of the studio's genre films but here surprisingly not only in the age gap but also the fact that it is Greene rather than Arrighi who is dubbed. Mower has less to do but the film can be seen as a precursor to Robert Hartford-Davis' terrible adaptation of the novel "Doctors Wear Scarlet" as INCENSE FOR THE DAMNED in which Mower plays a student who falls in with Greek hippie vampires. If the climax seems like a copout, it is only because of the way it resolves the romantic subplot. It is known that the production ran out of money and some of the film's special effects – executed by associate producer and Wheatley rights owner Michael Stainer-Hitchens rather than studio regular Les Bowie (DRACULA A.D. 1972) – but the visible matte lines and the visible blue screen behind the Angel of Death are less distracting than the enlarged optical of a tarantula intercut with close-ups of a real one and the scale miniature of the set on which it is shot. Hammer also adapted Wheatley with THE LOST CONTINENT and their final theatrical feature TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER.

Released theatrically by Twentieth Century Fox as THE DEVIL'S BRIDE, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT was like the other Hammer/Seven Arts films of the sixties long unavailable on home video until the rights reverted to Hammer and Anchor Bay struck a deal in 1998 and put out a special edition laserdisc featuring – like their laserdisc of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT – a Dolby Surround remix of the mono track while their subsequent DVD featured a 5.1 track as well. When the film's U.K. rights owner Studio Canal put the film out on Blu-ray in 2012, Hammer took the opportunity to refine the film's special effects digitally but they did not upgrade the audio. Scream Factory's Blu-ray includes the Studio Canal master as an extra while the principal transfer is a 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen transfer derived from a new 2K scan of Fox's interpositive. Unlike Fox's problematic elements for DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS and the not much better Studio Canal master of that film, THE DEVIL'S BRIDE transfer looks quite good with bold hues and good detail throughout while the unfinished visual effects are not at all a bother for the suitably engrossed viewer. The Studio Canal transfer in the extras – unhelpfully labeled "1.66:1 version" – does not look significantly inferior but the grading is a tad flatter with faintly orange skintones. The digital effects are not revisionist just smoother, and worth at least one look. Both transfers have English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono tracks and optional English SDH subtitles. Sadly, Scream Factory was not able to do a remix like Anchor Bay had for their release or to utilize the master materials for it.

The American transfer only includes a pair of audio commentaries. Ported over from the Anchor Bay edition is a track with stars Lee and Lawson moderated by Hammer historian Marcus Hearn. As usual, Lee dominates the discussion, but this is a film that he was instrumental in getting off the ground (having tried to interest Hammer in Wheatley since earlier in the decade), his friendship with Wheatley, and his belief in the occult and the existence of such Black Magic cults. Lawson expresses her affection for the film, admits to giggling during scenes because of her own discomfort with the occult material, and recalls that it was her husband Patrick Allen (THE BODY STEALERS) who dubbed Greene (confusing Allen also narrated the trailer in which Greene's real voice is heard). Exclusive to this release is anew audio commentary by author/film historian Steve Haberman, filmmaker/film historian Constantine Nasr, and author/screenwriter Richard Christian Matheson. Haberman, who has appeared on a number of extras related to the Universal horror films concedes the greater expertise of Nasr who notes the way in which Lee's "chilly authority" makes his character the other side of the coin to Gray's villain while also revealing that the original casting choice for Mocata was Gert Fröbe (GOLDFINGER) who better resembled Wheatley's conception for the Crowley-like villain while suggesting Gray better fit Fisher's fascination with the "charm of evil." He also provides information on the differences between the first draft and the shooting script and also reveals that Hammer wanted Linda Evans (TV's DYNASTY) for Tanith and the pair expresses their opinions on the enigmatic Arrighi. Matheson's son is also present on the track discussing his father's career (although Matheson was better known for scripting a number of Roger Corman and American International films earlier in the decade, he had already scripted DIE! DIE! MY DARLING!/FANATIC for Hammer).

New to the Scream Factory edition is "Satanic Shocks: Kim Newman Recalls The Devil Rides Out" (29:59) in which the author/critic discusses the renewed popularity of Wheatley's Satanic novels in the sixties, Hammer having wanted to adapt Matheson's I AM LEGEND earlier in the decade, noting Lee's feelings about his previous Hammer roles at the time and the opportunity the role gave him to do some real research and convey that on the screen, while also noting how Hammer's stodgy adherence to making films for post-war audiences nearly deprived Lee of his lead role (they wanted Charles Boyer who was closer to the age of the character than Lee who wanted to remake the film around the time of the commentary track recording since he was older and though the advancements in special effects would better suit the film). He also provides some interesting information on the source novel and the series of Richleau/Van Ryn novels, noting that THE DEVIL RIDES OUT is sort of a rewrite of the non-fantastical first novel "Forbidden Territory" substituting the younger Arohn for Van Ryn and a Satanic cult for communists (while also revealing some elements that did not make the film including the Satanists' efforts to start another World War). Also new to the Scream Factory edition is "Folk Horror Goes Haywire" (24:08), an interview with author/film historian Jonathan Rigby which places the film in the context of the "Summer of Love" and its more widely-seen American contemporary ROSEMARY'S BABY and noting that Fisher had not just been out of favor with Hammer because of the failure of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA but also that he had reportedly had two identical debilitating falls outside the same pub.