TAM LIN 1970
Directed by actor Roddy McDowall in his sole foray behind the camera, Tam Lin is a British proto-folk-horror curio that swirls together psychedelic decadence with supernatural myth. The luminous Ava Gardner commands the screen as Michaela Cazaret, a wealthy and mysterious socialite empress who lures a group of young jet-setters, led by Ian McShane, into her orbit.
Gardener moves through the screen like a fairy queen, particularly in the film’s lush or naturalistic scenes, in long dresses, diaphanous fabrics, and an air of free-spirited glamour that reflects the era’s trend toward organic elegance. It’s a wild collision of Ossie Clark-Celia Birtwell-style designs, swinging Sixties and early Seventies London fashion, mood, and music, and groovy-mod ideology. Tam Lin shimmers with the cool, rebellious vibe of the counterculture social scene, a world of restless elegance, playful glamour, and defiant grace. Beneath this lively surface runs an ambiguous supernatural undercurrent, hinting that Michaela ‘Mickey’ Cazaret might be more than just a temptress—perhaps a powerful sorceress in disguise. It’s this blend of Tam Lin’s high society sparkling whimsy, untroubled spirit, and the whisper of mysterious magic that gives the film its haunting edge.
When Gardner’s chosen muse, Tom, falls for an innocent outsider, Janet Ainsley, played by Stephanie Beacham, jealousy and mysticism unwind into a sensuous, ritualistic vengeance. With its dreamy visuals, contemporary fashion, and flashes of mod opulence, the film pulses with the shifting energy of the early 70s. Gardner’s icy glamour and bubbling sensuality, and the supporting cast’s youthful allure (including a young Joanna Lumley), merge into a wicked fairytale, one poised between Swinging London’s twilight and the rise of folk horror.
Queens of Evil (1970) / Le Regine
Tonino Cervi’s Queens of Evil wraps a countercultural phantasmagoria in fairy-tale velvet and giant hunks of glutinous cakes, featuring Haydée Politoff, Silvia Monti, and Ida Galli as one of three enchanting femmes fatales. Ray Lovelock’s free-spirited, mythically gorgeous hippie David stumbles into their decadent woodland retreat, a virtual garden of Eden, a trap of enticements, after a fateful run-in with the law, and soon finds paradise is lined with danger, temptation, and ominous glamour. The film’s a mesmerizing blend of psychedelic and pastoral elements, with strong influences from late 1960s flourishes and ethereal high fashion; Queens of Evil’s look blends these traits with supernatural and Gothic touches to create a unique cinematic style. Ray Lovelock’s gruesome fate strikes with a brutal revelation, but in truth, it’s the inevitable price of his surrender to a false paradise. Lured by seductive pleasures and beguiling witches, Lovelock’s free-spirited wanderer is gradually ensnared, lulled into a dream world where danger lurks beneath the surface. His fate is sealed by the film’s twist climax, a dark reckoning that turns paradise into a cage, and leaves him to pay in full for mistaking enchantment for freedom.
Tam Lin and Queens of Evil’s legacy lingers in its hazy, surreal blending of psychedelic visuals, Gothic elegance, and sexual rebellion: Both films capture the stylish unease and provocative edge of early 70s European horror, with iconic and cult actresses striding through set pieces as lush as they are strange. If you’re a fan of retro fashion, mythic intrigue, the singular charisma of Gardner, the three evocative muses, and the dangerously sexy lure of cult hunk Ray Lovelock, these movies should not be missed, especially if you’re drawn to offbeat, transgressive cinema of the decadent and the beautiful, oh yeah, and the horror of it all.
The full features are below if you want to venture further!
#139 down, 11 to go! Your EverLovin’ Joey formally & affectionately known as MonsterGirl!