Jacques Tourneur is arguably the most underrated director of the classic film era. His sense of light, shadow, and storytelling is on par with directors like Wilder and Hitchcock but he worked on much less prestigious and expensive projects. His early Val Lewton produced chillers Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie reused sets from previous films. His classic film noir Out of the Past was a B picture that has received A status. Arguably his coolest film however, is Curse of the Demon made in Britain in 1958.
Curse of the Demon is one of those filmic gems that makes one realize just how incredible and diverse the output was during the Hollywood studio system . It's a movie that very few have heard of let alone seen and yet its better than most of its classic horror brethren. It stars Dana Andrews as a Psychiatrist who is traveling to London for a convention but discovers when he gets there that his London colleague has died unexpectedly while investigating a cult of Satanists led by a suave and sinister leader. Needless to say things soon become sinister for our hero and his duel of wits with the leader will lead both of them to the brink, Oh and there's a demonic creature and some ancient symbols involved too,
What is so cool about this film is how unabashedly pulpy it is. It involves curses, cults, demons, and luxurious mansions. It has a tone at some points humorless, at others thrilling, and at still others utterly terrifying. Tourneur pulls out all the stops in the directorial department. His ability to create a tense situation and to build that tension to the breaking point is part of what makes him an incredibly effective director. That, and his use of shadows and beautiful black and white cinematography. The shadows are beautiful in both their atmospheric and otherworldly quality.
While working in the Lewton horror unit Tourneur had to work with what little was at his disposal. On this film he is aided by the wonderful Ken Adam. Ken Adam is the production designer who created the look of the first James Bond films. His style has an elegance and modernity that is rarely ever created so effectively. This film works because the pulpiness of the story is brought off with such sophistication. A lot of the credit for this is due to Ken Adam.
Apparently Tourneur didn't want the audience to ever see the Demon but the producer put shots of the creature in afterward. This is a shame as the weakest point of this film is the dated look of the creature. It shows up sparingly however, and it has a classic charm to it like the rest of the film. Rarely have horror films been as pulpy, sophisticated, or fun as Curse of the Demon. This is one to savor and enjoy on a dark autumn evening with a favorite beverage 4.5/51
