The Devil Rides Out - The Devil's Bride - Occult Film Review & Analysis

The Devil Rides Out or the The Devil's Bride as it was known in the US is a seminal occult film. Unlike many other films which feature occult or esoteric themes, there is actually a substantial amount of research reflected in this film base emerging from the 1934 novel of the same name by Dennis Wheatley. In this more light-hearted episode of Esoterica, we explore this classic 1968 Hammer film with an eye to the occult material in the film itself.
#occultism #film #hammer

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

If you want to support my work of making scholarly, accessible and free content on topics in western esotericism please consider supporting Esoterica on Patreon - www.patreon.com/esotericachannel

[@RockerfellerRothchild1776]

Where do you get your vests! Tell me! I know that vest is the source of your occult powers! No seriously where ya get the sweet vest?

[@chrissymcgee5930]

This film has always been one of my favourite horror films since childhood, I'm pushing 50 now! You should also check out another vintage classic, The Night of the Demon from 1957, fantastic film.

[@tuaylahten2295]

You have a charming sense of humor. Thank you for these intellectual romps

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Glad you - or anyone, really - appreciate my sense of humor!

[@hugosaurus]

Love this film, glad you're bringing attention to it! Would love to see your take on Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain or El Topo

[@ethanstiles948]

I also would love to see what he has to say about Holy Mountain

[@justkiddin84]

Definitely!! Bound to be symbolism in there that we would miss!

[@davidroberts1026]

Great, really fun movie, and like you mentioned, neat to see Christopher Lee as a good guy (which he's unsurprisingly excellent at). Charles Gray too, man. . .very effective and creepy. Nice to see more people appreciate this film, and yes, the soundtrack as well!

[@NigelJackson]

Wheatley was not prejudiced in terms of ethnicity, a close friend of his was the West Indian author Rollo Ahmed who he helped get into print. In fact Wheatley's socio-political views have proven more prescient than might be thought. His 1947 'Letter to Posterity' is thought-provoking.

[@bromisovalum8417]

There are similar magic incantations on the wall near the end of the movie Suspiria. Which was meant to be a trilogy about the "three mothers of darkness". Mater suspiriorum, mater tenebraeum and mater lachrymarum. Argento definitely has knowledge of the occult.

[@NigelJackson]

The Devil Rides Out, Quatermass and the Pit and She...Hammer's true pinnacles of film-making in the 60s. Love Wheatley's occult novels, I was raised on Hammer and Wheatley in the 70s and they shaped and informed my worldview - sad to say those novels are now being published in sanitized and bowdlerized editions with the approval of his estate. Personally I prefer my Wheatley unexpurgated. Phil Baker's 'The Devil is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley' is a truly comprehensive biography of the Old Boy, well worth reading.

[@Kuudere-Kun]

I think you might be interested in the way Hermetic Magic is used in certain Anime franchises, like A Certain Magical Index or the Nasuverse which includes The Fate/ shows, Kara No Kyoukai and Tsukihime.

[@markgibbins4143]

Great review of one of my favourite films 👌

[@JosephKeenanisme]

You need to do a few more of these. Both were interesting choices. I am familiar with Hammer Films but had to go back and watch this one with a new eye after watching your video. And A Dark Song was well worth a watch, and have turned a few friends on it as well.

[@go-go-genevieve]

This is so interesting but low key hilarious. Love this breakdown!!

[@SavageImprint]

Spent the last few nights watching your videos and I'm really loving the content, I really liked the episode on Occult Stoicism! That aside, if you're interested in another fun occult romp with Hammer, check out the Hammer House of Horror episode "Guardian of the Abyss". It features some fun stuff like cults, evil sympathetic magic, a dark mirror of evocation, as well as frequent mentions of "Choronzon". The ending is pretty awesome too.

[@sunbeagle9769]

Nothing better that hiding in the back seat of a 65 Pontiac, watching a horror film at a Drive In Theatre!!

[@monkeywritingshakespeare9744]

Please watch A Field in England!!! Even if you don't review it, it's great. I really admire your scholarship. Thanks!

[@Antisocial_Metalhead]

This is one of my favourite Hammer films so it's good to see that both Hammer and Wheatley used the knowledge well. Really must read the book again with a new perspective. Thanks for your videos, ideal mix of information with a sense of humour.

[@Jensees901]

Great review. I learned about this film and about 'Dark Song' as well, and I both loved them! Thank you very much for your work, and I would love to see some new reviews about films featuring the occult in the future.

[@helios7170]

More occult film reviews please! :D

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Yep, I'll do some here and there!

[@okasa64]

Sure Charles Gray is most famous as a Bond villain, but for those of us old enough to have been members of the midnight cult, Gray will always be the Criminologist who taught us to dance. Just a jump to the left indeed.

[@PapaYo4XXX]

Was so excited to see you were doing this review, loved it as always. Happy Samhain Brother!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks!

[@piershusband2039]

Informative and well presented. Some interesting points. Thank you

[@jackula4298]

You and this channel just get more and more awesome with each video you post. Kudos sir!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks, friend!

[@demiansolis]

Dr Sledge, I am a huge fan of your work and of your channel. Since I discovered your channel some months ago, I have become your follower. Thank you for the great work you are doing. Personally, I have learned enormously by watching your videos. God bless you and your family.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks so much for your kind comment - doing my best to make high quality content and glad folks are enjoying it!

[@user-pc8tb7hg1lHandlesRDumb]

Okay… time for a rewatch!

[@13jessiejames]

Thank you for the review of this movie! I will try to find it on streaming to watch. Looking forward to the upcoming videos on John Dee and the Abramalin ritual.

[@mattwright2954]

Always great content. Thank you

[@BlastBoyX]

I'm super late to this party, but this is one of my favorite films of all time. So glad to see it covered.

[@calebsmith2362]

My favorite Hammer film! I do love this channel!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks for watching !

[@thomasdolcelli4969]

I love hammer horror, never heard of this movie, now I need to look it up. I always found it interesting to see how accurate movies and books are to real occult or magic, or even history. Nice video

[@floydvaughn836]

Hammer tweaked things so that the ritual symbolism wouldn't work.

[@blaisebienvenue5117]

I love your channel, and also this movie. Very curious as to your opinion on SIMON, KING OF THE WITCHES.

[@highlonesomed]

I'd heard of this movie but i was imagining it being something completely different. I'll check it out. REALLY looking forward to your videos on John Dee's Enochian sessions, btw. I have more experience with the system itself that I know about the conversations and records he left behind.

[@alexjann5802]

as of this moment there are 505 likes, 5 dislikes. so didn't press the like button for unwillingness to take away from this synchronistic event. Great channel

[@JennieKermode]

People who enjoy this film should look out for the audio version of the original book recorded by Christopher Lee.

[@cripprocktony]

Fantastic film! I have loved it for awhile, even though there are some Hollywood isms, but it's all kept in check (because HELLO, HAMMER RULES) keep the reviews coming!

[@nigeldonaldson1647]

Hearing your appraisal of Dennis Wheatley's, beliefs & fears reguarding Empire & his fear of the loss of it, I'm reminded very much of Anthony Burgess- views on the fall of Empire and the fall of a future England to the new violent youth cults of the 1960s. ( written of course in his 1962 classic novel A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) which he came to regret ever writing, an ironic allegory because the same warnings given were celebrated by the youth of the time.

[@thoth3g]

Thanks for the recommendation!

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Hope you liked it!

[@thoth3g]

@@TheEsotericaChannel I wasn't able to get a stream going but I fully intend to see it when I can.

[@richardsn1976]

I'm really enjoying this channel. Would love to hear you review some of Kenneth Anger's work (Lucifer Rising & Invocation of my Demon Brother).

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Yeah, great idea!

[@johnlewis9158]

@@TheEsotericaChannel If you haven't seen it you really to see either the BBC's 1958 six part series called Quatermass and the pit or the sixties remake of the same name.They both deal in a way with science fiction and the occult but also in a way you would never expect. Indeed without giving to much away the ending of both the series and the film will blow your mind although having said that the series is my and most peoples favourite

[@amos660]

great work. thx!

[@happydayssunny7830]

Glad I found this channel thank u 👍 my grandfather is ROLLO AHMED he was one of the occultist who gave DW the information on black magic and the occult 😎 plus found AC . A flat and Rollo ran his own order of MAGICK 👍⭐😎🙏

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Fascinating - thanks for the comment!

[@astrogypsy]

My guess is that most people never say "necromancy" at all. lol. Thanks for the great channel Doc.

[@whocares8269]

Great one. I hope you will continune Film Review & Analysis

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Yep, once in a blue moon or so. This one was literally on a blue moon, so yeah.

[@jamieleebrown2253]

Hopefully you'll get around to doing one on the latest Craft Movie. It was nostalgic. But not quite as good as I had hoped. Love Witch is another movie I really enjoyed that I thought had a great interpretation of Wicca, traditional witchcraft and modern practice. Thank you so much for your awesome and informative content.

[@ErForce1]

This ruled! And would love to see more movie analyses. And perhaps... would you consider analyzing black metal? Some (!) are actually quite substantial in subject matter

[@DonovanWert]

Awesome 😎 thanks brother 🙏

[@andythedishwasher1117]

I really love this little sub-series of yours because Hollywood is where I feel like esotericism has touched most of our lives in the modern world most deeply. Furthermore, due to the key role Jewish filmmakers played in forming the foundations of our modern film industry, misunderstandings of this esoteric element in film have been the source of many anti-Semitic myths and sentiments in our cultural milieu. Your analyses of how these films operate in the overall context of historical occult literature seems like a fantastic antidote to that problem in those minds that are open enough to click on them.

[@kimwelch4652]

As I tell my grandchildren, everyday is Halloween-it’s Goth’s life.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

:) Glad you like my content - thanks for watching!

[@floydvaughn836]

Hammer researched this stuff, and legend has it that they changed symbols and periods of filming so that their spells ( shooting) wouldn't work. Also, so their audience wouldn't be able to simply copy them and unleash the dark side. And Lee was interested to say the least. A tell there is Christopher Lee in The Wicker Man. His performance comes from conviction. I E, not acting.

[@thelemite935]

One of my all time favorite films!

[@Fiachbuay1987]

Such an awesome review! Ty sir, are you a practitioner your self?

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

If I were, I wouldn't say so here ;)

[@Fiachbuay1987]

@@TheEsotericaChannel is there a way we can chat? I am starting to research this stuff on my own and I started with the Sepher Yetzirah .

[@TKeithD]

Just found and love this channel… also was lucky enough to be the 666th like 👌🏻

[@Whimsicalbrainpan]

I enjoy it when science fiction and the occult meet in a story. Most people I know enjoy one or the other but not both. It's a special kind of scary.

[@ArielRyanBautista1313]

Have you looked I to the czech hermetic tradition? Also, I would suggest "the holy mountain" and "simon king of witches" as movies to watch, also "the last keepers" as a more recent example along with "hereditary" and "midsommar"

[@TheNadscratcher]

I really enjoyed this and your look at "A Dark Song" (my favourite movie of this type). If you enjoyed the novel "The Devil Rides Out" I can strongly recommend the pair of novellas (usually combined in one volume) "Black Easter" and "The Day After Judgement". In particular the speech made by Satan himself towards the end of the book, which is rendered in beautiful Marlowe-esque English. It begins "Oh yee of lyttle faithe..." Do please try it and if you have problems finding it, let me know and I will do my best to get you a copy. It forms the middle part of a sequence often called "After such knowledge..." which consists of "Dr Mirabilis" (based on the life of Roger Bacon), "Black Easter/The Day After Judgement" (an arms dealer pays a black magician to release all the major demons from Hell for one night), and "A Case of Conscience" (a science fiction novel). This thematic trilogy is much under-rated and really shows the quality and depth of James Blish's writing and research.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks for the recommendations!

[@ThreadBomb]

I don't know if it's been written, but I'm sure there's an interesting book that could be made of the history of the depiction of the occult in Hollywood films. It comes up in a couple of great Val Lewton movies "I walked with a zombie" and "The 7th Victim", as well as the classic "The Black Cat" starring Karloff and Lugosi.

[@dannyblade6824]

Dope 👍

[@princeeverlove]

A wonderful Companion Film is Hammer's "Plague Of The Zombies"!

[@frostylunetta]

The best film of Hammer Horror ❤❤❤❤❤ Christopher Lee was wonderful

[@psukebariah3435]

I'm never entirely certain what to make of Hammer horror, I've watched a few and mostly scratch my head, but you make a good case for watching this moive in particular. Especially as I love Christopher Lee (and Peter Cushing) regardless.

[@ThreadBomb]

While I love the idea of Hammer films, I'm afraid I often find them a bit dull in practice. On the other hand, I must recommend the non-Hammer Cushing/Lee vehicle "Horror Express".

[@enigmakthx]

Would love to see a review of the vvitch

[@alcosmic]

Plz consider doing 'Simon, King of the Witches' sometimes.

[@user-fl7by8in5o]

👍 good video

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Thanks 👍

[@princeeverlove]

Greetings: Cerebral and balanced concerning the dual concepts of Light VS Darkness...I have often cautioned people to ignore or take lightly the Powers of Spiritual Darkness is foolish and wreckless...Shun the devil as we may, to ignore his powers of deception and delusion break the 1st Rule of facing an adversary: Know your Enemy!

[@natalierico3714]

Thank you! Now I know my next “scary” movie! For those interested seems to only be streaming on shudder.

[@jeffphisher3801]

This reminds me not of dreams in the witch house but actually the short story from the beyond! One of his less popular but I enjoy that story

[@gloomyvale3671]

Great analysis of the film, the book The Devil Rides Out was heavily influenced by Crowley’s 1917 work Moonchild, 2 groups battle each other. I do believe that Crowley was more of an influence on Wheatley then is believed. Let’s be honest both Crowley and Wheatley were very egocentric, Wheatleys A Letter To Posterity, in which he was more concerned with the class system falling apart then the working Man climbing out of the yolk of their masters indicates this.

[@willemelodin8323]

Thicc with a thorn omg i love you

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

"Thicc with a Thorn," another good band name :)

[@nodancingpalmtrees7931]

I had to pause the video at this point because I was laughing so hard 😂🤣

[@Scarter63]

Ever see Simon, King of the Witches? It's a bit campy, but I liked his chill philosophy.

[@76footballlover]

where can you watch this movie?

[@lizardspoint]

Love this film so much xx

[@dodeka]

Shot in the dark, but have you ever seen Simon, King of Witches?

[@georgem7502]

Is Lee a bad guy or good guy as Lord Summerisle?

[@happydayssunny7830]

It was actually Rollo Ahmed Mr Wheatley got most of his knowledge from not the beast 666 . This is fact . Love your vids plus am a subscriber thank you . Great upload thanks 👍

[@gloomyvale3671]

I disagree, reading Devil Rides Out and Crowleys Moonchild, you can see glaring similarities, I believe that Crowley was a bigger influence on Wheatley then he says, Wheatley was very self serving as was Crowley, you can see how these two characteristics would attract.

[@TeamBonkersConkers]

"The Goat of Mendes - the Devil himself!"

[@martin36369]

All of the symbolism in the film can be found in "A Pictorial History of Magic & the Supernatural", by Maurice Bessy

[@musical2]

I read several of Dennis Wheatley's books decades ago as a young teenager. I generally couldn't get to grips with what was actually evil about what the Satanists were doing., like orgies are a bad thing? I got that wonderful word 'Ipsissimus' out of one of Wheatley's books, not sure it was this one. Wow! That is ace, being able to teleport yourself. Anyway, I was off on the road to Hell in a handcart ever since reading those books. Bon voyage ;-)

[@sethsims7414]

If you like sci-fi/occult fusion you should read "The Laundry Files" they are a fun novel series.

[@kaleidophon]

Have you seen Hereditary? Halloween is comin up, a review would be brilliant! ;]

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

Might do you one better

[@rodmarker2071]

used to read Dennis Wheatley when I wuz a kid, the books are always better , but this is such a great movie ... great actors .. bit ham in 2021 but both book and movie recommend ... if you like the genre that is ....

[@commieRob]

It's interesting how you describe wheatley's feelings about the occult and what it represents in terms of the decline of, specifically, the British empire. I wonder if attitudes like that didn't actually encourage interest in occult practices among progressively thinking people, and put the racist boy's club model into decline. It seems like in the 50s and 60s, there was a sudden turn towards esoteric and pseudo esoteric practices embracing a more hippie-ish perspective.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

It's an interesting theory - surely the new age movement is reacting to this 'boys club' environment for sure.

[@Jame629]

I always notice the real life occult lines in this movie love this Strange if you look how widespread and popular occult and satanism is today and how small the monarchy Is today . Something in hes fears

[@thomaselliot1945]

Have you seen the weird manifestation machines that make you see or hear spirits or like manifest things it's super out there. I first seen the idea on Mona Magick KZbin channel and that's what came to mind with the techno magic stuff you have to like tune it like a radio for certain frequencies for different experiments but it seems like a scam to make charge a arm and a leg and If it doesn't work they can just say you haven't found the right channel or didn't buy a expensive enough machine. Never heard about it again so it can't be that great.

[@lizardspoint]

Ps I am 65 and this film is a classic

[@Warpreacher]

Lovediddy xD

[@leslawrenson]

The other great occult/cult movie starring Christopher Lee is "The Wicker Man" in which Lee plays the cult leader. It's even better than The Devil Rides Out, in my opinion.

[@FreeFormFemi]

do more occult movies

[@chuckd1687]

"Lovediddy" 😂

[@Alkis05]

"I say the word necromancy in a week more than a normal person say in a year" Clearly not a gamer.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I’ve often wondered whether you yourself “dabbled” 😉

[@mido3ontheway]

Can't you see the Sigillum Dei Aemeth wax desk behind him on the shelf? :D

[@philharland]

Beastly C & Lovediddy sound like occult rap artists 😆

[@utuber7252]

😂😂😂😂 necromancy-this is true...you do

[@commieRob]

How many times do you think most people say necromancy in a year? I think in a month you probably have most people beat for a lifetime.

[@TheEsotericaChannel]

You are probably correct :)

[@meptune]

Bond villain?... meh. Charles Gray will forever be remembered as the narrator of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, whose balls are "...heavy, black and pendulous..."

[@vlads.1]

What are you reading off?

[@justkiddin84]

Lovediddy😂😂😂😂🐙

[@jameslew2804]

To be fair, I don't believe those words you quoted Crowley as saying are that outrageous.

[@floydvaughn836]

Magic is like kittys. There's no good kittys, there are no bad kittys. There are just kitties.

[@DeathToMusic]

Thanks for reviewing one of my favourite films ever. I'm also interested in your other topics, so have subscribed, and look forwards to looking through your previous episodes.