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The Devil's Commandment

1957 1h 30m Horror List
Tomatometer 1 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A French journalist ties drained corpses to a mad doctor's plot to give a countess (Gianna Maria Canale) eternal youth.

Critics Reviews

View All (1) Critics Reviews
Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy A pretty fine little movie it is, with drop-dead gorgeous black and white CinemaScope photography. Rated: 8/10 Oct 27, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (9) audience reviews
bill t Not really a vampire movie per se, more like a movie about a woman who needs human blood (by doctor's injection) to remain youthful. Insightful young reporter decides to check out why people are dissapearing, and puts two and two together.. but will the police believe him? Somewhat fooled by this, kept waiting for shocks, but none really ever come. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Mario Bava took over the direction of this Cinemascope horror film from Riccardo Freda after first serving as cinematographer. A persistent journalist seeks to find a serial killer that the police haven't been able to identify; the killer's trademark is that all of the blood is drained from the victim. Less a vampire film and more of a mad scientist yarn with a close kinship to Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face (1960), all of the victims are female and their disappearance is related to a duchess who refuses to grow old. Enough said. The film varies from plodding and stagey to a more gloriously creepy use of the widescreen with Halloween-esque sets visited in tracking shots. Bava, the master stylist, may have still been learning the ropes (or we could blame Freda for the less fluid parts). Worth a look for its first peek at Bava who would soon produce Black Sunday (1960), a more fully realized look at his talent. (Beware the shorter American print, I'm told). Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Atmospheric trend starter--Horror-loving audiences: meet Mario Bava!! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Wunderschön mit anzusehender Film mit überragend stimmungsvollen Sets, toller Musik, einigen wirklich spannenden Szenen und einer leider eher mauen Geschichte. gute 3/5 Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member There weren't many good vampire movies in the fifties, so if you like vampire movies you should see this one, it's really good. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member More enjoyable for me for its use of expressionsim and special effects, but the film is still pretty bad ass and deserves a little more recognition. Particuarly seeing as this is the first Italian horror film to be released since the silent period. Dark, moody and a great start for Bava to establish his aesthetic. For nonesense on the film etc, please follow the link to my Bava blog http://mark-bavablog.blogspot.com/ Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Devil's Commandment

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A French journalist ties drained corpses to a mad doctor's plot to give a countess (Gianna Maria Canale) eternal youth.
Director
Robert Davidson
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 30m