EYE OF THE DEVIL (DVD 1966 -2010) LNC NOT RATED -WIDESCREEN – HORROR – THRILLER

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Philippe de Montfaucon, Marquis de Bellenac, the hereditary owner of an ancient estate in Bordeaux whose vineyards have produced no fruit for three years, lives in Paris with his devoted wife Catherine and two young children, Jacques and Antoinette. He is abruptly summoned to Bellac, where a sinister priest gives him a strange amulet. After their son, Jacques, dreams that his father needs him, the Marquise takes their children to the chateau. When they arrive, archer Christian de Caray shoots a dove, which then falls at Catherine’s feet. Upon questioning, Philippe’s aunt Estelle observes that Christian is “a very wicked boy” and his sister Odile is “no better”. Estelle dismisses Catherine, telling her maid “This time, I can’t be involved.”

Late at night, Catherine discovers Odile and Christian ceremoniously carrying the impaled dove into a candlelit room where robed figures sit. They present the dove first to an altar whose cross resembles the amulet and then to the figure sitting at the head. The doors close in Catherine’s face, and an old man warns her to take her children and never return.

Philippe is quick to dismiss Catherine’s concerns—the valley is steeped in ancient superstition. He speaks of his family’s 1000-year history in Bellenac and the grave responsibilities he thus has. His aunt tells him she would “rather die” than “say anything” to Catherine, and begs him to flee. Meanwhile, Odile enchants Jacques by changing a toad into a dove. Catherine is quick to pick up on the unusual fixation of Christian and Odile on her son, and grows increasingly disturbed by their increasing presence in his company.

A family friend, Jean-Claude, helps Catherine discover the Montfaucon history: twenty-two of the heads of the family have died in “mysterious circumstances”, going back to the 1200s. Meanwhile, Philippe visits the blighted vineyards and returns to learn that Catherine has ridden out to the tomb of Edouard de Montfaucon. There she finds a carving matching a painting in the chateau and an inscription referring to twelve dancers. Emerging from the mausoleum, she is pursued by robed figures, faints, and revives in her bed. Philippe gives her a sedative and kisses her.

Emerging from and fleeing through a series of nightmares, Catherine finds herself locked inside the bedroom chamber; she is eventually able to break open the window shutter and signal to Estel, who sends her maid. Catherine wakes, and all is normal. The doctor tells her she was given belladonna, a hallucinogen. The community is celebrating “Les Treize Jours” (The Thirteen Days). People fill the church, where Père Dominic prays in Latin. Philippe kneels alone; Estelle and the children sit in the front pew. Philippe pauses when he sees Catherine, but the priest repeats “Procedamos in pace” (Proceed in peace). Outside, twelve robed figures form a circle in front of Philippe and sway from side to side. Philippe kisses Jacques; the crowd gasps. Philippe welcomes all to the Festival, paraphrasing Genesis 1:11: “Let the Earth bring forth vines, yielding fruit after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth, and the Word was God”. Estelle screams.

In her room, for Jacques’s sake, Estelle reveals to Catherine that her brother Alain, Philippe’s father, did not die, but ran away, to escape. He now lives in the tower above. Upstairs, she recognizes Alain, who warned her. He explains: les treize jours/jouyeurs, the thirteen days/dancers, are the twelve apostles dancing around Christ, or in the case of the heretical town of Bellenac, a living god suitable for blood sacrifice. Père Dominic, a pagan, celebrates a Black Mass. When Philippe kissed Jacques, it showed that Philippe was doomed.

Elsewhere, Jacques watches the priest praying over his father. The priest brings Catherine to Philippe. Detached, he tells her it can’t be stopped, that Philippe is dying for what he believes in, and that no one will believe her testimony of what she has uncovered. As Philippe rides away with the ritually-robed figures and Christian, Catherine manages to escape and pursue the group, though she is unable to save her husband; her efforts come in too little, too late, as Christian strikes down Philippe in the thick of the forest. Philippe’s body is then ceremonially brought back through the vineyards and into the heart of Bellenac. Jacques watches.

Cut to torrential rain, Jean-Claude is seen reading a newspaper account of the “accident”. As the family prepares to drive away, Jacques stops and insists that he retrieve his watch; inside, the priest is waiting for him, holding the amulet for Jacques, who kisses it and then returns to the car. In the final shot, the car is shown driving away from the chateau before the camera pans to Odile sitting outside in a windstorm, smiling enigmatically and knowingly.