Okay, before I get into the rest of this review I think I need to address that this film is the “Standard” quality of film from Hammer Films. They do have their ups and downs, BUT the film as a whole (minus its star) is your basic Hammer film. If Hammer films are your thing --as they are mine, you'll definitely love this film; if you don't get them you might enjoy the film, but you'll at least be entertained by the amazing performance by Peter Cushing.

All that being said, the title of this is all wrong, I shouldn't be titling this Twins of Evil even though that is the title of the film I'm reviewing, I should be titling it “Peter Cushing: Under-Rated Genius.” While Twins is everything you could ever want in a Hammer film (minus Ingrid Pitt or Christopher Lee), Cushing gives a performance that I can only describe as exemplary acting. I'd show his performance in this film to anyone that wants to know what an actor does. I say this with the grain of salt that comes with the tiny tag “there are many people in the world, quiet and melodramatic” but Cushing doesn't go for melodrama, he goes for quiet.

The plot of Twins is almost your standard Hammer film fair with the gimmick that it stars, well… twins (one good one evil) whose parents have recently died. They are sent to live with their uncle who's a puritanical Witch Hunter who burns quite a few women based on his mere suspicions, played by Cushing. One of the twin's love attention is a righteous school teach who loathes the Witch Hunter as a religious zealot that abuses the word of God. The other twin is the local count, who in his spare time practices black magic (what Hammer film would be complete without a black mass?) and conjures up Carmilla, the vampire who makes him into one of the undead while she strokes a candle. Phallic, I know.

So now the hypocrite Witch Hunter's niece of course gets bitten by the count, yet by fear of the king, he is slow to act until the town's fellow puritans find out. While the film is entertaining, the most amazing parts are in Cushing's eyes during an early conflict with the count. Cushing pulls a gun on the man and aims it at him. It's not the conviction in his eyes that sells you on his performance, but rather the conflict, that some thought is running behind those eyes. It's not the typical action hero, “I know what is right”, but it's the “I'm doing right, right?” look behind them that sells you on the pain of the character.

Cushing has easily beheaded more vampires in more films than any other person, and I say this with emphasis on the ‘more films' part. For instance, Wesley Snipes probably killed more Kung Fu Blackulas in Blade than Cushing has, BUT Cushing has played Van Helsing and killed Dracula more times then there are Blade Movies total. However, at the end of Twins of Evil, when confronting our evil count, Cushing misses with an axe and the count then plants it into his back, which is a bit of a twist from what old Blue Eyes is used to. However, I think his death is more powerful because it's easy to grieve for a character that had an easy moral goal and saw things easily; but what about the conflicted people; what about the Witch Hunter who seeks redemption for burning all those innocent women (including nearly burning his innocent niece --the evil twin does the switcheroo after being exposed.) Especially when he seeks said redemption by attempting to destroy another practitioner of black magic. For me this heightens the connection to the character and makes him more human, even though most of the film he comes off as a major jerk you understand at the end of it his intentions are strictly misguided.

A good person doing evil, thinking he's doing God's work - I think that epitomizes some of the bloodiest results of human tragedy, and I don't just mean that in a theatrical sense. That is the license for so much of human suffering, and Cushing has it hiding behind his eyes and in a very restrained, yet artfully played performance throughout the entire picture. His character has no yelling speeches, his character doesn't break down and cry, his character never speaks of “grand emotions.” No, it's all in the man's face. Seriously, watch this film twice, and the second time just watch Cushing's face for the tiny details of his expressions. His entire performance is details, swallows, tiny facial movements, mood, tone… Cushing was known to improvise (that whole thing with candle sticks and Dracula was something that was made up on the spot), and I wonder how much of this is him and how much of it is direction.

I do say this about any actor that gives a stellar performance - they need good “base” material: a plot and surrounding characters to act as a catalyst for their amazing performance, but then that actor must take it the rest of the way… Cushing does it in this film, while the rest of the cast and crew perform well, Cushing shows why he is truly one of, if not the greatest vampire killers of all time.