The Devil Rides Out

The Duc de Richleau discovers a friend's son has fallen in with a satanic circle and spends a night in a chalk circle defending a country house.

Richard Matheson adapted the Dennis Wheatley novel, which is why the dialogue is far better than Hammer's average, and Terence Fisher directs the occult as procedure: the rituals have rules, the protections have rules, and the tension comes from characters breaking them under pressure.

Lee asked to play Richleau for years and is excellent, playing him as brisk and impatient rather than heroic.

The night in the circle is the set piece: a giant spider, a figure on a horse, and a child, each attacking the group's discipline rather than their bodies.

Charles Gray plays Mocata and the hypnosis scene is the best acting in the film.

The effects were poor even in 1968 and were quietly improved for a 2012 restoration.