Demons of the Mind (1972)

In the hauntingly secluded manor of Baron Zorn, a chilling tale of deranged familial bonds, sinister superstitions, and ominous deaths unfurls. Baron Zorn, a bereft widower played by Robert Hardy, keeps his adolescent offspring, Elizabeth and Emil, imprisoned in separate chambers, their minds perpetually fogged with drugs. He is haunted by the specter of his wife's insanity, which he fears has been passed down to their children before she took her own life in a fit of madness. Elizabeth, portrayed by Gillian Hills, manages to slip her father's oppressive grasp for a fleeting romantic encounter with a local lad, only to be recaptured and subjected to a gruesome bloodletting procedure intended to purge her of her supposed inherited evil. Emil, on the other hand, ceaselessly plots his escape, his attempts consistently thwarted by their stern aunt Hilda, who keeps the manor under a strict regime. As the siblings grapple with their incestuous desires, a wave of brutal murders sweeps the nearby woods, the local women falling prey to an unseen killer. The superstitious villagers whisper of demons, while a wandering priest strives to eradicate the lurking evil, his earnest efforts met with cynical dismissal. Two intriguing characters arrive at the scene: the quack scientist Falkenberg, eyeing a fortune if his peculiar contraption can cleanse the Zorn children of their alleged malevolence, and Carl, a young man brimming with determination to liberate his beloved Elizabeth from her father's torment. As the murder count escalates, Falkenberg devises a macabre psycho-drama, roping in village girl Inge to impersonate the deceased mother, hoping to jolt the siblings from their morose state. However, as Baron Zorn's symptoms of lunacy begin to rise to the surface, it becomes alarmingly clear that the real patient in dire need of treatment might not be either of his children. As the plot thickens, the viewer is drawn deeper into a riveting exploration of inherited madness, oppressive love, and the desperate struggle for freedom.

Demons of the Mind is a horror movie featuring Robert Hardy.

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