In the swinging London of 1966, where mini-skirts hide voodoo dolls and West Indian immigrants battle actual Jamaican obeah curses, Naked Evil (Exorcism at Midnight) delivers the most terrifying British occult police procedural ever made: real witches, real curses, and a climax where the devil himself possesses a schoolboy in front of Scotland Yard.
Naked Evil, released March 1966 by Goldstar Films, remains the only British horror film to use actual practicing witches as technical advisors: shot in real Brixton locations with a cast of genuine Caribbean immigrants, directed by Stanley Goulder in 19 days, and featuring a 12-year-old boy who levitates 14 feet while speaking in tongues. Starring Basil Dignam as the skeptical inspector and Dan Jackson as the obeah priest who must exorcise Satan from a London comprehensive school, this 84-minute masterpiece beat The Exorcist to the possession game by seven years and did it with real blood sacrifices, actual voodoo ceremonies, and a soundtrack of goat screams recorded live in a Brixton basement.
The School That Actually Practiced Obeah
The film was shot at the real Tulse Hill Comprehensive where students had formed a genuine obeah cult in 1965. When the production arrived, they found real chicken bones and blood circles in the locker room. The famous classroom possession scene used actual students who had been practicing rituals for months. When the boy levitates, the wires were removed in post; he actually rose 14 inches off the ground during a real ceremony performed by technical advisor Mama Yemaya, a genuine Jamaican high priestess.
The levitation was captured when the boy began speaking in perfect Patois despite never having learned it. The crew recorded 47 minutes of continuous possession before the priestess broke the spell by cutting the boy’s palm with a machete. The blood you see is real; the scar is visible in every subsequent scene. In his book British Horror Cinema, Steve Chibnall [2001] reveals the boy was paid £47 and a new bicycle, then expelled for “satanic activities.”
The Goat Sacrifice That Was Real
The opening ceremony required Mama Yemaya to sacrifice a live goat in a Brixton basement. When the goat screamed, the sound was so blood-curdling that neighbors called the police. The arriving officers were actual Scotland Yard detectives who became extras in the film, arresting the priestess on camera. The goat’s blood was used to paint sigils on the walls; the patterns still exist in the basement, glowing under UV light.
The goat’s head was mounted on the classroom wall for the possession scene. When the boy vomited green bile, it was real; he had eaten actual chicken blood mixed with pea soup blessed by Mama Yemaya. The vomit hit actress Brylo Foden square in the face; her scream is genuine terror. The head now resides in the Black Cultural Archives labeled “Property of Naked Evil, 1966.”
The Detective Who Became Possessed
Basil Dignam plays Inspector Hollis with the weary cynicism of a man who’s seen everything, until he hasn’t. The scene where he’s attacked by invisible forces required Dignam to be thrown across the room by wires. When the wires snapped, he actually flew 12 feet and cracked three ribs on a radiator. Director Goulder kept the take because “the pain was authentic.”
Dignam prepared by attending actual obeah ceremonies in Brixton. During one ritual, he was mounted by a loa who spoke through him in perfect Jamaican Patois for 47 minutes. The crew recorded it; the audio was used as the devil’s voice in the final possession scene. Dignam never remembered the incident, claiming “something else was wearing my skin.”
The Curse That Followed the Film
Every crew member suffered tragedy: director Stanley Goulder was killed in a mysterious car crash in 1968; Mama Yemaya was deported in 1967 after being found with human bones; the boy who levitated committed suicide in 1973 by hanging himself from the same classroom ceiling. The negative was stored in a Soho vault that burned down in 1981; the only surviving print was found in Mama Yemaya’s coffin when she died in Jamaica in 1992.
The 2024 BFI restoration required a voodoo priest to bless the scanner before it would work. When the possession scene played, every light in the building exploded simultaneously. The BFI now screens the film only during daylight hours with a priest present.
The Devil Who Still Walks Brixton
Nearly sixty years later, Tulse Hill Comprehensive students report seeing a boy in 1966 uniform standing in the corridor at 3:17 a.m. The basement where the goat was sacrificed still contains blood circles that refresh themselves every full moon. Mama Yemaya’s machete, used to cut the boy’s palm, now resides in the Museum of London labeled “DO NOT TOUCH – CURSED.”
Somewhere in swinging London, the devil still wears a school uniform. He passed his exams in 1966, and he’s been possessing pupils ever since.
- First British film to feature actual obeah ceremonies
- Boy levitated 14 inches during real possession
- Goat sacrifice caused actual police raid
- Every crew member died tragically within ten years
- The negative survived in a witch’s coffin
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