Necromancy

When you're making a thriller about witchcraft, I believe you should do everything you can to help the audience suspend its disbelief in order for the movie to work. Some pictures ("Rosemary's Baby", for example) have accomplished this; others (like "Necromancy") haven't and the potentially scary material comes across as corny and goofy. This film does have some atmospheric moments, but about half the dialogue is hard to make out (sometimes it's poorly recorded, at other times just incomprehensible) and Orson Welles, who gets top billing, has a role that is so BENEATH him that you have to assume he was desperate for the work. Or maybe he was simply having fun.....(*1/2)

There are two versions of this movie: the original (1971) and a 1983 version ("The Witching"), the latter of which is not worth watching. If you stick to the original, you will find a flawed, but surprisingly effective and dark, horror movie.

While some of the writing and editing is a bit heavy-handed and, frankly, clumsy at points, Pamela Franklin manages to carry this movie admirably. Frankly, the director could have cast just about anyone in the other parts, and I'm not certain it would have mattered. She is at all points the focal point of this film. As such, Welles is just an audience draw. He was by no means essential.

In terms of subject matter, I would put it in the class of movies that came out immediately after "Rosemary's Baby." It is not that movie's equal by any standard. (Stylistically, it is perhaps closer to Romero's "Season of the Witch.") There are many of the same themes: child-birth used for "unnatural" or potentially evil ends; secretive societies within "normal" settings; an alternately naive, sweet/doe-eyed female who is also intelligent, strong-willed and quite perceptive; the often "absent" and not entirely trustworthy husband.

In the end, while this film is not nearly as focused and sharp as RB, the choppy, low-budget feel to the camera work and editing in Necromancy actually works to keep it somewhat phantasmagoric and nightmarish. The ending sequences, with the twist, are actually quite good.

As an aside, the film does appear to have been filmed in part in Los Gatos, California. The funeral scenes appear to have been shot near the Lexington Reservoir, and the exterior shots are likely of houses near the downtown that still stand unchanged, as Los Gatos has retained its "preserve the past" zoning standards --a not unimportant point given the theme of the movie.

This drive-in schlockfest has Pamela Franklin starring as a Los Angeles woman who moves to a bizarre small town in Northern California with her husband (Michael Ontkean) where he is to be employed for a toy company. The longer she spends there, the more disconcerted she becomes over the influence his boss, Mr. Cato (Orson Welles), has on the townspeople, which consist exclusively of young, fresh-faced hippies with a taste for all things occult.

"Necromancy" had a troubled release history and was apparently re-edited to some degree in the early 1980s and re-released as a softcore film under the title "The Witching Hour"; the cut of the film I saw was apparently an early R-rated cut under the "Necromancy" title that is allegedly close to writer-director Burt Gordon's original vision, if you want to call it that. "Necromancy" as a whole feels like a "vision" of sorts-a hazy, drugged-out romp through Manson family-era California, with a supernatural twist. It suffers terribly from disjointed editing and a general lack of cohesion, which is disappointing given that the narrative is actually quite straightforward.

The film will remain an eternal curiosity for Welles's involvement, though his role is minimal and his presence generally underwhelming. The lovely Pamela Franklin (who many genre fans know and love from "The Innocents" and "Legend of Hell House") is a formidable lead and does what she can with the material; a strappingly handsome Michael Ontkean plays her husband and is less impressive but still has a likable screen presence; and Lee Purcell (later of Wes Craven's TV schlocker "Summer of Fear") is aptly doe-eyed and dead-faced as a distant member of the town/coven trying to revive Welles's dead son.

The film has a clever albeit rather standard twist that gives it a fun bite considering most of it is rather straightforward despite its acid-trip aesthetics. In the end, the film suffers greatly from serious disjointedness (presumably because it is so badly edited), but there are some ominous, utterly bizarre (and sometimes eerie) visuals throughout that are distinct to the era. Ultimately, what we have here is a drive-in-calibre occult flick, which, depending on who you are, may or may not be a complete delight. For visuals alone, I feel it's worth watching, though it does present itself as a serious case of "what might have been." 7/10.

After losing her baby, Lori (Pamela Franklin) moves with her husband to the small town of Lilith. On the way there, strange events start happening, including a tragic "accident". Upon their arrival in town, they meet the extremely odd Mr Cato (Orson Welles), who makes it known almost immediately what he's all about, as well as the rest of the bizarre townsfolk.

NECROMANCY is Director Bert I. Gordon's attempt at making an occult horror film. He's somewhat successful, in spite of some dreadful editing and clunky dialogue. The basic plot is in keeping with the 1970s trend of paranoid, supernatural thrillers. Where it flies off the rails is in its execution, which is cumbersome to say the least. Ms. Franklin plays her role with her usual wide-eyed aplomb. For his part, Mr. Welles is barely in the movie, making very brief appearances here and there.

Far more silly than scary, it would still be worth watching for the fun of it, if only it wasn't so boring. Seriously, even ample amounts of alcohol might not be enough to thwart the deadening effects of this brain hammer...

I saw an extended version of "Necromancy" that is available to watch on YouTube. The introduction claims that deleted footage was restored in this version--making the film more complete and coherent. So, when you see some reviews that hated the movie, it is possible they saw the shorter version. As for me, the film I saw was MUCH better than the current 4.2 and this could be because it's more the director or writer's original vision.

Pamela Franklin stars as Lori. While Orson Welles gets top billing, she was clearly the focus of the film...and I assume they billed Welles first to improve marketing or as part of the contract to get Welles to appear in the movie. Lori recently had a miscarriage and her husband Frank (Michael Ontkean) has taken a job near the town of Lillith. However, the folks offering the job had a lot of strange questions--questions about his and his wife's religious beliefs. While these sort of questions are illegal to ask, he responds that they are both atheists and that seemed to make the employer happy...or so Frank says.

When they get to Lillith, they find the place is a hellhole....and that really isn't an exaggeration! The folks are all members of a Satanic cult led by Mr. Cato (Welles) and Lori naturally wants to leave. But Frank inexplicably blows off her worries and seems to like the place and the strange people. So why did they REALLY come here and why are the folks so interested in Lori?

This movie is above all, creepy...with a dark, brooding atmosphere throughout. The story, though sometimes confusing, was also pretty interesting...but suffers some because of its close similarity to "Rosemary's Baby". In other words, if you've already seen this earlier film it's pretty easy to guess what's going on in "Necromancy". Not a great film but food if you would like a few chills.