Witchcraft

A 300 year long feud between a a coven of witches and a family of wealthy land developers comes to a head when an old cemetery plot is disturbed, unearthing the grave of a witch once buried alive. Morgan Whitlock, head of the coven , now has his means to take revenge on the usurpers of his land and sets the resurrected witch upon them.

A rarely seen and almost forgotten horror, Witchcraft is now available on the MGM / Fox "Midnight Movies" label, paired as a double feature with Devils of Darkness. The big draw for me is that it's one of the last legitimate horror films in the career of Lon Chaney Jr., so seeing it nearly pristine on DVD is a treat I never thought I might indulge in. To my surprise, Chaney's part wasn't quite as big as I hoped, but this is okay as the rest of the cast is made up of mostly British actors, and the Brits rarely disappoint in the realm of horror. Better still is that Hammer Film veteran Don Sharp is at the helm, who has given us Kiss of the Vampire, and Rasputin the Mad Monk, among other genre pictures. Handsomely shot in black and white, Witchcraft has all the atmosphere that both Gothic and 60's contemporary horror fans crave. The mute witch makes for an eerie apparition as she silently stalks her prey, I might liken the scenes of her on the prowl to scenes in A Drop of Water from Bava's masterful anthology.

While it's true that the plot is nothing new I do feel the film has style to burn. Modern viewers will likely doze off as it is bloodless and the pacing is a bit lethargic, however in many scenes this deliberate pacing works very well. 7/10

I had always been interested in checking out this one, as much for the late eminent critic Leslie Halliwell's favorable assessment of the movie as for its coverage (from the time of the original release) in a monthly magazine which my father used to collect called "Film Review".

WITCHCRAFT allows horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. (top-billed here but appearing only intermittently throughout!) one of his best latter-day roles – though he gives a rather one-note performance. Jack Hedley (later star of Lucio Fulci's notorious slasher THE NEW YORK RIPPER [1982]) is well cast as the young lead, projecting the right mix of ruggedness and intelligence. Notable, too, is Yvette Rees as the revived witch – actually reminiscent of Barbara Steele from Mario Bava's seminal BLACK Sunday (1960) in her simultaneous evocation of sensuality and repulsion; all of her appearances (including nightly visitations upon current members of her family's rival clan who had her buried alive centuries ago!) denote some of the movie's visual and dramatic highlights.

As a matter of fact, the film emerges as one of four classic British occult chillers – the others being NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957), THE CITY OF THE DEAD (1960) and NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (1962) – which clearly serve to establish the fact that there was life within the field outside of Hammer Films…although, on this preliminary viewing, I'd say WITCHCRAFT is a notch below the other three. Incidentally, being the last to come out, it shows definite influences emanating from the concurrent flood of Italian genre offerings (with, as I said, any number of arresting Bavaesque images) courtesy of Don Sharp's stylish mise-en-scene – demonstrating once again his flair for Gothic horror also displayed in Hammer's THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963) – and Arthur Lavis' crisp black-and-white cinematography. The few coven scenes – especially one that is foolishly interrupted by heroine Jill Dixon, leading to her immediate abduction – bear a strong similarity to those in THE CITY OF THE DEAD; Carlo Martelli's moody score effectively complements the eerie proceedings, which culminate in a typical but satisfying fiery climax.

Still, I found the script somewhat problematic and was slightly bothered by the following rather glaring goofs/plot contrivances: during the scene in which Jack Hedley is being compelled to drive towards a precipice by the witch, there's a cut to the car back on the main road (unless this was intended as an illusion, for Hedley to keep going regardless – but it's not made exceedingly clear and, in fact, there's been a recent discussion on this very point in the "Classic Horror Film Board"!) and couldn't they have come up with a different method of disposing of the brothers in the first place (especially since no ominous devil-doll is seen anywhere near them at that time!); also, the fact that Hedley and his brother would go off on a business trip and leave their loved ones behind (including a bed-ridden grandmother) when a couple of unexplained deaths have already occurred, the girl staying with them (the brother's girlfriend) may or may not be involved in witchcraft herself and the vengeful head of their rival clan is about to be sprung from jail!; finally, the thirteen members of the coven enter the crypt to begin the pivotal Sabbath rituals but singularly fail to notice straight away the absence of their intended sacrifice (Dixon) from the room – conveniently allowing the girl and her saviors enough time to flee the premises unharmed!

Despite the rather disappointing (if not surprising) lack of extra material found on this "Midnite Movie" 2-discer released from Fox, the included photo gallery does allow one a rare and intriguing look (in color, no less!) behind the scenes of this modest but classy production.

All the ingredients for a good story about witchcraft are assembled for this minor British entry, well photographed in low-key style with effective B&W photography and featuring a competent, but rather not well-known British cast, with the exception of LON CHANEY, JR. who has a minor role despite being top-billed.

JACK HEDLEY is the land developer who is too late in stopping the Lanier family from building a construction site that disturbs the Whitlock graveyard. The feuding families even have a "Romeo and Juliet" sub-plot going with Hedley's son, David WESTON, involved in a romance with Chaney's grand-daughter DIANE CLARE. The desecration of the grave site causes a 300-year-old woman buried alive as a witch to return from the grave to wreck havoc on the Lanier family.

It's a simple plot and it plays fairly well but there is nothing new to the material and it's been done before in a thousand different ways. The vengeance theme gets a workout with various members meeting untimely deaths and there's a big fire at the conclusion where the past is buried once and for all.

Biggest drawback is that Chaney doesn't fit into the proceedings with his American accent, so it's probably a good thing his role is a minor one. He was clearly not in the best of health at the time and it weakens even his subordinate role.

YVETTE REES as the vengeful, wordless witch who was buried alive gives the film's most chillingly sinister performance.

I first saw Witchcraft on TV when i was around seven years old and it scared the pants off me! I used to have this feeling for years afterwards that the witch stood in my garden looking up at my window waiting for me to peek from behind my curtain late at night! Since then of course I've grown up and out of that fear (ive also moved house umpteenth times) and if anything i now find the witch (Yvette Rees) quite sexy and she could haunt me anytime! Even though I'm lucky enough to own a copy of the film i think its a shame that it isn't available on DVD. Its now perhaps thought of as dated and is to all intents forgotten but for me it will always remain the horror movie that showed me for the first time what the cinema was capable of. Itll always have a special place in my heart. Ill watch it every now and again and it takes me straight back to my childhood and daring myself to peek around that bedroom curtain. A forgotten horror classic.

... who does very little through the entire film but threaten people and wave his cane around. And yet he is top billed.

Morgan Whitlock (Lon Chaney Jr.) is angry with the Lanier family for bulldozing the Whitlock family cemetery so that they can put in new construction. But he's also mad because 300 years ago the Lanier family had condemned a member of his family, Vanessa Whitlock, as a witch and used the opportunity to seize the Whitlock family estate. So the bad blood goes way back.

Unfortunately, the Laniers didn't have her burned at the stake but buried her alive. Also unfortunately, her coffin was disinterred by the bulldozing. And very unfortunately, she is still alive 300 years later, and not in the best of moods.

I'm surprised Vampira didn't sue the makers of this movie because the freed Vanessa never speaks, never makes any telling expression, just stalks about like, well, Vampira! And the Laniers are much too likeable and fair minded individuals to make good objects of revenge for Vanessa Whitlock.

There are some subplots of interest - in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet a young couple, one in the Lanier family the other in the Whitlock family, are in love. The matriarch of the Lanier family hasn't left her room since the death of her husband years ago, and she also has come to believe she cannot walk. And who builds a family crypt that connects to the main house anyway? Finally, as in so many British films, "an inspector calls" as people start dying in weird ways, but atypically turns out to be pretty useless as the Laniers seem to be on their own in figuring this out for themselves.

In an American film you'd probably be able to tell who survives and who is killed by the witch, but since this is a British film the survivors and victims are unexpected. It certainly was better than I expected considering the no-name cast, thus raising my rating of it just a bit.