Directed by Jacques Tourneur, Curse of the Demon is a delightfully entertaining witchcraft thriller with solid performances all around and fine-tuned technically. Dana Andrews plays a psychologist investigating the death of a colleague who had gotten mixed up in some witchcraft research. Andrews is an ardent skeptic despite being shown time after time that Dr Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) does in fact have magical powers. His pig-headedness gets to frustrating levels, but he finally gets it. MacGinnis' Karswell is equal parts charm and evil, performing party tricks for children one second then conjuring wind storms the next. The special effects for the late 50s are fantastic, particularly the smoke and fire effects. The demon itself, which was a point of contention between Tourneur and producer Hal Chester, was hit and miss but always surrounded by amazing light and smoke effects, the caliber of which I don't think we see again until the 1980s. My favorite effects moment came during a forest pursuit, where the protagonist was being chased by an enormous ball of white smoke. It looked amazing in black and white. The most impressive effects, though, come from the moody atmosphere and Tourneur's impeccable timing. There was one scene where I jumped two or three times... at silly things! It's like he took the Lewton bus to heart and started stacking them. They weren't even full on shock cuts. Complete with ancient tome, hexes, demons, and various other neat witchcraft related phenomena, Curse of the Demon is witchcraft horror done right.
8/10
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