Il potere di Satana

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.

Cheapjack shocker has Los Angeles couple pulling up stakes after the wife suffers a miscarriage; her husband has been offered a lucrative job in the rural town of Lilith, but her freaky premonitions foretell an unhappy experience, especially with fat cat Orson Welles overseeing the community and its devil-worshipping residents (all under 30). Pamela Franklin has the central role, and she's an interesting presence even if she's been directed to stare at the other actors (and into the camera) as if under a spell. Writer-producer-director Bert I. Gordon should have taken his cue from William Castle after Castle bought the rights to "Rosemary's Baby" but allowed outsiders to take the reins. Gordon's plot, despite its familiar occult trappings, does have some interest, but the presentation is inept. *1/2 from ****

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)

The film "Necromancy" (1972) was considerably altered for a re-released version which I'm not sure was ever shown in theaters (it may have been a straight-to-video release). This altered version, re-titled "The Witching"(1981, if I'm not mistaken) is apparently only one of several such versions. Since they are under other titles ("A Life For A Life", "Rosemary's Disciples", etc.), I'm assuming (though I'm not certain) that these have been altered further. However, I have seen both "Necromancy" & "The Witching". While the original film (which is next to impossible to find anywhere-though I was able to track down a copy) is a suspenseful, gothic horror film, various key elements were removed for "The Witching", including: the final scene, which clears up some plot points while adding a final twist to the story; both the opening & closing titles, which were replaced with painfully ordinary sequences; & the original music score, which included a memorable song entitled "The Morning After" (not to be confused with the Oscar-winning song of the same title used in "The Poseidon Adventure", released the same year).The new (completely different) music score is horribly, embarassingly cheesy. The sequence of scenes, in some places, was also changed slightly & there was additional (& badly misplaced) footage added. I can only imagine what liberties have been taken with the more recent altered versions, since seeing for myself what else has been done to the original film would be much scarier than "Necromancy" itself.

A young marriage (Pamela Franklyn , Michael Ontkean) go to a little town when the husband has got a job at a toy enterprise . There Mr. Cato (Orson Welles) is the head of a community whose one enterprise is the the manufacture of occult toys. Cato runs a witches' coven in the town of Lilith, where he needs the powers of Lori Brandon to raise his son from the dead. Cato, as it turns out , takes his witchcraft seriously and attempts to use to bring his dead son back to life . To do so, he needs a willing sacrifice Life to the Dead and Death to the Living. Enter the Occult World of 'Necromancy"

Poorly made tale of the misadventures of a young marriage and man's continuity quest for supernatural power , as Welles as the high priest out to get victim Franklyn . It displays ordinary elements of the witchery subgenre : Devil worship, witchcraft , diabolic possession and adding some scenes of fully nude coven worship . The picture displays lots of creepy , eerie and nonsense moments. Bizarre, tense, controversial and with chilling scenes about practices of devil worship and satanism ritual . Production values and set design are highlighted by the usual cool scenarios, as exterior , as colorful interior. Make-up and visual effects provide some much needed jolts . Some of the effects are little dated now, but director Bert I Gordon builds intrigue and tension enough through a stately pace. Top-notch casting , in this otherwise average production , as Orson Welles stands out playing his showy role. Orson's acting , is one of his strongest in an unconventionally nasty role. Whenever he was making a movie just for money , Orson would disguise himself . In this piece of horror trash from filmmaker Bert I. Gordon , Welles wears both a fake nose and a false beard . While Pamela Franklyn -still haunted by debuting in the successful The Innocents- is cool a as the unfortunate victim . Main and support cast are acceptable , such as : Pamela Franklin , Orson Welles , Lee Purcell , Michael Ontkean , Sue Bernard and Harvey Jason who married Pamela Franklyn . Rare and frightening musical score Rob Walsh and Karger . As well as atmospheric cinematography by Winton C. Hoch , John Ford's regular cameraman , and shooting took place in Los Gatos, California.

The motion picture was regularly directed by Bert I Gordon. He is a good artisan working from the 50s to 2000s , making passable films in low budget. He's directed movies of all kinds of genres as children films : The Magic Sword, The boy and the pirates. About witchery and necromancy : The Witching, Burning at the stake, Satan's princess. Erotic : The Big Bet, Let's do it. And Bert has a penchant for fantasy with giant beings and huge animals : The Cyclops, King Dinosaur, Earth vs the Spider. Beginning of the end, War of the Colossal beast, Village of the giants, Attack of the Puppet people, Empire of the ants, The food of the goods, among others . Rating : 4,5/10, so-so , but acceptable and passable . The tale will appeal to horror pictures harcore enthusiasts and Orson Welles/Pamela Franklyn fans.