Twins of Evil 1971 Ultimate Guide Signed + Art Print

Product Description

Shipping underway. A signed, hand-numbered collector’s edition, limited to just 250 copies worldwide and supplied with an exclusive art print.

There is a chill in the air over Karnstein, a village where the pious carry torches and the wicked keep to the castle on the hill. Into that shadowed world rides the Twins of Evil 1971 Ultimate Guide, a lavish full-colour celebration of Hammer’s fever-bright finale to its Karnstein trilogy, the film sometimes known under the alternate title Twins of Dracula. This signed softback is the one to own: hand-numbered out of just 250 copies, personally autographed by the authors, and packaged with an exclusive art print you will not find with any other edition. Beautifully restored stills sit alongside expertly researched articles with contributions from actress Judy Matheson, tracing how John Hough turned a tale of Puritan zeal and vampiric seduction into one of the studio’s most striking early-1970s pictures.

A pair of orphans, a Puritan uncle and a Count with a taste for the dark arts

The story opens as identical sisters Maria and Frieda Gellhorn, newly orphaned, arrive to live beneath the roof of their severe uncle Gustav Weil, a witch-hunting Puritan who leads a torch-bearing band called ‘The Brotherhood’. Where the gentle Maria bends to his rule, the wilful Frieda is drawn up the hill to Count Karnstein, a jaded aristocrat dabbling in Satanism who has summoned the vampiress Countess Mircalla back from the grave. What follows is a collision of faith and appetite, damnation and desire, played out to a fiery climax we will leave for you to discover. Directed by John Hough from a screenplay by Tudor Gates, and produced for Hammer by Harry Fine and Michael Style, it stands as the third and final chapter of a trilogy rooted in Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella Carmilla.

Feature articles that open the castle gates

Across its pages the guide unpacks the making of the film in absorbing detail: the origins of the Karnstein cycle, Tudor Gates’ approach to adapting Le Fanu, and the casting of Maltese sisters Mary and Madeleine Collinson, whose turn here made them the first identical twins to grace a Hammer horror. You will find features on Harry Robinson’s swelling score, Dick Bush’s atmospheric photography, Roy Stannard’s handsome sets and the period make-up of George Blackler and John Webber, together with the trivia and behind-the-scenes colour that Hammer devotees relish.

The faces of Karnstein, in front of the camera and behind it

Rich biography features introduce the talents who brought the film to life. Peter Cushing anchors the cast as the tormented Gustav Weil, a role he played in the raw shadow of his beloved wife Helen’s passing earlier that year; alongside him are the Collinson twins as Frieda and Maria, Damien Thomas as the decadent Count Karnstein, Dennis Price as his servant Dietrich, David Warbeck as the schoolmaster Anton Hoffer, and Kathleen Byron, Isobel Black and Katya Wyeth. Behind the camera we profile director John Hough, writer Tudor Gates and the craftspeople who gave the picture its Gothic sheen.

Craftsmanship worthy of a collector’s shelf

Printed to A4 (210mm x 297mm) on fine silk stock, every page is rendered in full colour with a depth and clarity that does the film justice. This signed softback is finished with a luxurious gloss-laminated cover, making it as pleasing to hold as it is to read – a keepsake built for the shelf as much as the coffee table.

Every still lovingly brought back to life

Each image has been meticulously restored by hand. Our use of full-colour print processes breathes fresh tonal richness even into black-and-white publicity shots, so the blood runs redder and the candlelight glows warmer than you have ever seen it on the page.

Draw the curtains, let the fire burn low, and lose yourself in the twin temptations of Karnstein. This is Hammer at its most beautiful and its most wicked, gathered into a single collector’s guide to treasure.

Complete your Hammer vampire collection

Vampire Circus 1972 Ultimate Guide
The Hammer Vampire Films Magazine

Also available in other editions

Prefer a different format? This guide is available in two more editions:

Twins of Evil 1971 Ultimate Guide Signed Hardback – a casebound collector’s edition limited to just 50 worldwide, with its own exclusive art print.
Twins of Evil 1971 Ultimate Guide Magazine – the standard unsigned softback edition.

Specifications

• Signed, deluxe collector’s edition
• Hand-numbered out of 250 worldwide
• Includes exclusive art print
• 36 pages
• A4 (210mm x 297mm)
• Full colour throughout
• Luxury gloss-laminated cover
• Printed on fine silk stock paper