Nightmare Fuel / The Devil Rides Out

"If we once catch sight of his face..."

• With James Bernard's manically eerie score, the opening credits, set with diabolical symbols, announce a tone of primal menace.
• The phantasms conjured by occult ritual are a more nebulous threat than most Hammer Horror offerings, and no less sinister for it - the dark forces, played with total conviction, reach into realms beyond human comprehension, and show glimpses of the insidious beings therein. A man with a goat's head might not seem particularly threatening, but, accompanied by revelation that it's the Devil, calmly hints threat on a cosmic scale.
• The phantasm (referred to in the credits as "The African" that appears to Rex and the Duc, sporting a Cheshire Cat Grin as the Duc pleads with Rex not to look into its eyes; only very quick action stops us from finding out why he shouldn't.
• The insubstantial yet undeniable nature of Mocata's powers - Mind Control, and the invocation of demons.
  Mocata: I shan't be back - but something will.
• In the barn, where Rex has Tanith Bound and Gagged for her own safety, she suddenly sits up with an alarmingly calm, wide-eyed stare. The thunderous score, and Rex's horrified Little "No", announce a return of Mocata's Mind Control.
• In the hall, the Duc's circle of protective engravings is challenged by sudden dimming of the lights; an ominous drop in temperature, and a voice from outside that sounds like Rex but emphatically isn't.
  Richard: We must let him in.
  Duc le Richleau: Who? Do you think that's Rex out there?
• They're then visited by a tarantula roughly the size of a sheep. Even if the green screen effect looks dated, a Giant Spider is a Giant Spider. It's followed into the hall by an apparition mimicking young Peggy. As the demonic spider advances on what appears to be her daughter, Marie's desperate screams are unnervingly plaintive.
• The hall is then invaded by the Angel of Death; a veiled, armoured figure atop a furiously rearing winged horse, whose manic, echoing neighs amount to an equestrian variant of Voice of the Legion. When the rider's veil falls, revealing a blankly glaring human skull, all that prevents it from claiming Simon is the Duc's desperate recitation of the last two lines of the Sussamma Ritual.