‘You’ll feel four hands reaching for you… when the Gemini twins arrive!’
Goodbye Gemini is a 1970 British psychological horror thriller directed by Alan Gibson (Dracula A.D. 1972, The Satanic Rites of Dracula) from the novel ‘Ask Agamemnon’ by Jenni Hall. It was released on US Prism VHS as Twinsanity.
Main cast:
Judy Geeson (Inseminoid), Martin Potter (Satan’s Slave), Michael Redgrave (Dead of Night), Alexis Kanner, Mike Pratt, Marion Diamond, Freddie Jones (Vampira) and Peter Jeffrey (Doctor Phibes). The notable cinematography and oblique camera angles are by Geoffrey Unsworth (Unman, Wittering and Zigo).
The film makes significant divergences from the book, which involved the use of dream and fantasy sequences written in the style of a Greek tragedy, during which a teddy bear named Agamemnon comes to life and interacts with Jacki. Most notably, the film presents the story in chronological order, whereas the book takes place within the frame narrative of an amnesiac Jacki slowly piecing together the preceding events.
Jacki (Geeson) and Julian (Potter) Dewar, a pair of fraternal twins, arrive in London; and their father is in Mexico. They set about mindlessly indulging themselves in the pleasures afforded to them by their father’s estate (“tapestries and knickers a speciality”), much to the chagrin of the housekeeper, Mrs. McLaren. When Mrs. McLaren threatens to upset their carefree life by imposing order, they trip her down the stairs, staging it as an ‘accident’.
The twins launch themselves into London’s scene, accompanied by Jacki’s teddy bear, Agamemnon. At one club the pair encounter Clive (Kanner), a small-time pimp and his “creepy friends”. Julian goes out for a night with Clive. who convinces him to accompany him to a brothel where he is set upon by two transvestites.
The next night, the twins blindfold Clive and position him in a chair set up before Agamemnon. When he hesitates in identifying them properly, the twins stab him to death. In the process of Clive’s murder, Agamemnon is cut in half; the combined sight of Clive’s blood splattered on her and Agamemnon’s severed body causes Jacki to suffer a nervous breakdown and she flees…
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” … a film of two halves: the first half, climaxing in the twins’ terrifying ritual murder of Clive, fizzes with energy and interesting characters, and is thoroughly absorbing. Sadly after that it all comes unstuck … One thing that doesn’t disappoint is the film’s frankly incredible soundtrack. The film kicks off with the Peddlers performing the thrillingly funky “Tell the World We’re Not In” over the credits and Christopher Gunning’s score bears comparison with Roy Budd’s music from the same year’s Get Carter. Ivan Kirby, Classic Horror Campaign
Buy Christopher Gunning’s lauded soundtrack on CD from Amazon.co.uk
” … the whole thing feels a bit uneven. I did enjoy that grim British horror vibe, in particular the downbeat ending, which really ends the movie on a dark note; nobody did downbeat horror like the British in the 60s and 70s. My biggest problem with Goodbye Gemini is that it takes much too long for the horror aspect to creep in…” Trash Flavoured Trash
” … a classy slow-burn treatment of the horror sub-genre about the deadly aspects of the twin bond that thankfully does not degenerate into a Psycho-clone (despite the comparisons drawn by the commentators with the Hithcock film as well as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?). Although Potter has the showier role as the more unstable of the twins, Geeson (a British horror favorite) conveys the underlying menace of her character more subtly … Kanner is excellent as the charming Clive” Eric Cotenas, DVD Beaver
Thanks to Dwayger Dungeon for the image of Agamemnon the teddy bear.
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