El monte de las brujas

Highly implausible, unbelievable, and incoherent Spanish production about...well, let me see just how close I can get to it. The film opens with a woman having one of her cat's killed by a young girl. She then begs her lover to take her somewhere on his vacation. He calls work and demands that he loses his vacation time and she says he will pay for this. What relevance this plays out to is anybody's guess at the film's end, because the guy, a swarthy photographer, spies a beautiful Patty Shepard, queen of Spanish horror films it seems, taking her bikini top off momentarily so he can snap a picture, ask her out to lunch, and then to his assignment to Witches Mountain - for reasons again we are never privy to. Before they go, Patty must stop by the house and loud, "eerie" chanting echoes in our hero's ears. Again, this is never explained. The film goes on with these two stopping at an inn, going on to the mountain, and finally realizing why the mountain is called Witches Mountain. You know, there are several aspects to this film which make it better than a bad film. It has some atmosphere, some of the character actors are really quite good(especially the deaf innkeeper and the old woman), the leads are at least adequate, and the climax - though it makes absolutely no sense at all - is well-choreographed(literally) with the witches in white brassieres and long black hair. It just doesn't make any sense though, and that is a huge detractor to me. I could watch the film another ten times and still not know more now than I did after the first viewing. That is a major problem. The Witches Mountain is a curious film from the long line of cheap, atmospheric European horror films that blanketed that decade. If you can get more out of it than me, better power to you.

Although not the best "B" horror flick to come out of the 70's, this is one of my favorites because it introduced me to Patty Shepard, who became my favorite star of this genre. Although it suffers from continuity problems, it retains a somewhat tense mood that makes this movie viewable. The story has an effective ending and has remained a favorite of mine throughout the years that it has aired on late night local T.V., although I have not seen it in some time. If you are not enamored of Patty Shepard, you may not think much of this import, but it will remain on my list of favorites.

The film is like other reviewers have said: Odd, strange, mesmerizing, does not make a lot of sense, watchable, weird and captivating. It's one of those European films one would have to watch to understand what is meant by watchable yet does not make a lot of sense.

Great atmosphere, appropriate music, acting not too bad, some interesting scenes, and bizarrely entertaining with a questionable script. OR maybe it's just loosing something in the translation into the English language instead of being a questionable script? I'm not sure which it is.

Anyway, if you like the older Euro-Horror films and/or movies about witches you might find something entertaining about this film as others and myself did.

The movie is NOT bloody nor gory - it's a Gothic piece with lots of eerie imagery as eye-candy.

5/10

This engaging (which it shouldn't be) low-grade Spanish exploitation (quite tame I might add) looks good, but huh? Let me phrase that again 'huh?'. Actually the word 'huh?' would be going through your mind quite a lot. Nothing makes sense, nor does it try too. I just don't know if its complicatedly cryptic or just a convoluted muddle, but there's no denying how laconically uneventful, strange and wordy it feels.

Unrelated sequences tied (like that nasty opening involving a little girl, dead cat and fire) in to a sparse story involving photographer Mario (played by a chest-puffing John Caffari, who's mustache is a dead ringer for Nintendo's iconic Mario. What's the odds?) that ditches his girlfriend at home and encounters a young lady (a gorgeously fixating Patty Shepard) who he asks to come with him on an photography assignment, where at this remote mountain retreat they come across some hooded witches.

Look past the unhinged plot structure and wallow in what is simply a moody piece of atmospheric mechanisms and growing unease. Raul Artigot directs few jarringly unusual visuals and creepy passages, but for most part seems sporadically non-existent and unfocused just like his writing. Ramon Sempere's striking cinematography lenses the gracefully rich scenery as we take in the scenic views and let the time leisurely grind away. However there are certain areas where it was too dark to see what was going on. Fernando Garcia Morcillo's hauntingly bombastic and overwrought score blends terrifically with compulsively dense atmosphere created. The leads are capable, but there's also a sturdy bunch (the pick being Víctor Israel) of secondary performances.

Slow with little in the way of interest, but this dreamy set-up (that seems to go on and on) manages to keep you watching until its closing.

Sometimes certain films get caught in an untenable position. They want to be classy and subtle but don't have the ability to be so. Yet, they avoid elements that would make them interesting or entertaining in an effort to attain a subtlety that is far beyond their means or capabilities. "The Witches Mountain" is such a film. It so strives to attain such an atmosphere that it all but ignores any element whether it be exploitative, strange, or horrific in an effort to achieve its desired goals.

And, yet, it doesn't have the ability to generate the suspense it needs to attain such a chilling atmosphere. The film was directed by Raul Artigot, a noted cinematographer making his directorial debut. He knows how to frame a scene, and the photography is quite beautiful. But, for some strange reason, he is unable to create what a low-budget film like this needs most in it's repertoire; the haunting visual imagery so necessary to leaving an indelible mark on the memory of the viewer. All of the best low-budget horror films have indelible images, that once you think about them, shivers run down your spine. From the flesh-eating scene in "Night of the Living Dead" to the menace of Michael Meyers relentlessly pursuing Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween", these images create a sense of fear and dread that lasts in your subconscious. They contribute to an atmosphere of suspense that is unrelenting. Which is exactly what this movie so drastically needs. It is unable to attain the ethereal or dream-like beauty that it so longs for, thus leaving the first hour of the film suspense- less and bereft of nearly all action, leading up to a denouement that is flat and uninvolving. And, while there are a couple of surreal moments towards the end, they are much too limited to have any real impact.

As for the production itself, the cast, headed by genre stalwarts Patty Shepard, John Gaffari, and Monica Randall, is fine. But the material( A young couple encounters a witches coven while traveling through the mountainside,) is incredibly weak. Only the reliable character actor Victor Israel( "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", "Horror Express", "Goya's Ghost") is allowed to shine through as a sinister innkeeper with a hearing problem. His complex performance is one of the few bright spots in this movie. And while the photography is beautiful, the film is so poorly paced that you literally wonder if anything is going to happen. Even the musical score is a mixed bag. The instrumentals and singing do possess a lyrical, moody beauty that should have been embraced by the movie itself, but the chanting( which is meant to terrify us, I suppose) is grating on the nerves and almost too painful to listen to,

So, all in all, this movie doesn't add up to much. The film strives to be a modern Gothic horror story but cannot achieve it. It eschews all other elements in an attempt to create an emotional impact it otherwise lacks. But the only thing it creates is a tepidness that it never recovers from.