Il villaggio delle streghe

Horror movie set in a small Tennesse town calle Oldfield dealing with four stories of past evils and the teller Vincent Price reveals his hometown can force folks to murder. Welcome to Oldfield, Tennesse, population : deadly!. Stop in for a night of pure terror!

An antology movie in Hammer, Amicus and Tigon style that during the 60s and 70s made a lot of these horrifying kinds of stories . This morbid film with strong yunk factor is formed by four creepy tales with acceptable cast, such as Susan Tyrell, Martine Beswick, Clu Gulager, Rosalind Cash, Terry Kiser, Angelo Rossito, Rosalind Cash, Lawrence Tierney, Cameron Mitchell, among others . And Vincent Price is pretty well, as always. Vincent Price gives a nice but short acting in his usual style, he's considered to be one of the best horror myths including classic terror films as The Fly, The Tingler, Tales of terror, Pit and the pendulum, The Haunted Palace, The Raven, The masque of the Red Death, The tomb of Ligeia, Witchfinder General, The abominable Dr Phibes, Theatre of Blood, Madhouse, The Monster Club, among others . However isn't the usual Price material due to contain cannibalism, dismemberment, excessive gore, and necrophilia. The first tale concerns an elderly man : Clu Gulager falls for a job colleague, but the romance ends in killing, necrophilia and a terrifying revenge. The second one concerns an injured debtor : Terry Kiser mercilessly chased by creditors, on the run he meets a hermit : Harry Caesar who heals him, however Kiser attempts to steal him the secret of eternal life, then a grisly vengeance takes place. The third chapter dealing with a circus attraction, there a glass-eating carny showman pays a definitive price for seeking love outside the claws of a voodoo woman : Rosalind Cash. Final episode regards The Corn Children with a group of soldiers led by Seargent Cameron Mitchell from American Civil War, they are held captive, mistreated, tortured by a household of waifs wth fateful intentions.

The motion picture was shot in medium budget and professionally made by Jeff Burr, though it has some flaws and failures. He is an expert on terror movies and sequels, such as Night of the Scarecrow, Pupkinhead 2 wing blood , Puppet master 5 the final chapter , Puppet master 4, Stefather 2 make room for daddy , Leatherface 3 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , and this Offspring, among others. Rating : 6/10. The film will appeal to horror fans and Vincent Price completists

1986's "From a Whisper to a Scream" (theatrically issued as "The Offspring" before returning to its original moniker) was an ambitious anthology for young filmmakers with more talent than money, director Jeff Burr carving out a niche in horror sequels over the following years. Shooting lasted 24 days in Burr's hometown of Dalton, Georgia, representing the Tennessee town of Oldfield, home of executed murderess Katherine White (Martine Beswick), whose uncle Julian (Vincent Price) receives a visit from reporter Beth Chandler (Susan Tyrrell), curious about how his niece could have begun her murder spree while still a child. Julian shows her records about several past incidents to prove that Oldfield itself has been a harbinger of evil since its inception during the Civil War. "Stanley," played by Clu Gulager, is by all appearances a harmless old coot, taking care of a chronically ill sister (played by his real life wife, Miriam Byrd-Nethery) who displays incestuous feelings for her brother and talks of nothing but the old days with their long dead father. Stanley's obsessive longing for a coworker (Megan McFarland) finds him sending her flowers from a 'secret admirer,' and she incredibly agrees to a date just to pacify the nerd. When she rebuffs his advances he strangles her and leaves the corpse to be found in the road, feigning innocence when the murder is revealed the next day. After breaking into the funeral home to molest the corpse, the killer spends the next 9 months enjoying the fruits of an unsolved crime, finally tiring of the ice water baths required to cool down his sister to strangle her as well, only to receive his just desserts from a most unexpected visitor. "On the Run" centers on lowlife Jesse Hardwick (Terry Kiser), badly wounded after an encounter with two hoodlums, stumbling into the swamp where he is found by an old man, Felder Evans (Harry Caesar), who nurses him back to health. Seemingly pleased to have some company in his isolated shack, Felder is unaware of his new tenant's overly inquisitive nature and murderous demeanor, uncovering evidence that his benefactor may be over 100 years old. His nightly voodoo chants help to produce an elixir that may be responsible for his longevity, agreeing to share it with Jesse if he works hard enough, but the ingrate turns on Felder to his everlasting regret. "Lovecraft's Traveling Amusements" is a carnival sideshow owned by the mysterious Snakewoman (Rosalind Cash), all the performers slaves to her will, especially the handsome glass eater, Steven Arden (Ron Brooks), whose forbidden love for local girl Amarillis (Didi Lanier) may prove to be his undoing. "Four Soldiers" headlines Cameron Mitchell as Sgt. Gallen, leader of a quartet of deserting Union soldiers who delight in their continued reign of terror over the Confederates even after learning the Civil War is over. A field covered in landmines quickly puts them out of commission to allow easy capture by a band of crippled and mutilated children, all orphaned during battle, keeping the spirits of their fallen parents alive by torturing any soldiers they find. One is stabbed in the crotch, another has an eye gouged out, while Gallen callously murders a little girl who freed him because he looked like her father; his fate is preordained no matter how he tries to escape. Julian's chronicles do not convince his unmoved visitor, who soon reveals her own past history with Oldfield much to the old man's horror. The four segments had already been completed when Jeff Burr called at the home of Vincent Price, script in hand (and a bottle of wine), to offer him the lead role, and to his unabashed delight, the actor accepted as a final farewell to the genre he loved. Cameron Mitchell stands out as the despicable sergeant, and Bela Lugosi costar Angelo Rossitto enjoys a fine role as a sympathetic sideshow barker. During the decade of "Creepshow" this omnibus rarely received its just due, but in tackling taboo subjects like dismemberment, necrophilia, and incest certainly didn't shirk on its ability to shock.

When I say that I somehow overlooked THE OFFSPRING (aka FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM) when it came out during the late 80's, I'm basically summing up this movie's history. It's unrighteously overlooked and forgotten. It's a very satisfying horror-anthology that is slightly more dark and gory than its counterparts released during that period (CAT'S EYE, CREEPSHOW 2,...). The wraparound story has reporter Bess Chandler travelling to the town of Oldfield. She's there to interview the uncle of executed serial killer Katherine White. The uncle, played by horror-icon Vincent Price, lives in this house full of books which contain the history of Oldfield. Through four stories Julian White reveals to Bess the evil that dwells in Oldfield.

The first story had me fearing the worst, because the acting was rather poor. Just when I was about to think this was gonna be a lame story about a guy going nuts and killing some women, there was the act of necrophilia (not shown, though) and the completely unexpected twist in the end. Since this was the least successful story of the four, I was in for a treat. Because every story got better and better. Just for the fun of it I made up a title for every episode (because they actually don't have any in the movie).

"Brother Dearest": Clu Gulager (best known to horror-fans for his role in THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD) plays Stanley Burnside, a timid man who lives with his ill sister. He falls in love with his boss, but it turns out she's not interested. It seems that Stanley doesn't handle rejection well, as the walls of his sanity begin crumbling down.

"Swamp Renewal": This part seemed to be made by a total different director, but it was not. The tone and camera-work was different. It revolves around Jesse Hardwicke, first rate trailer trash, who gets chased into the swamps by two gangsters. Mortally wounded he loses consciousness. An old man takes him under his care. This is more a voodoo-like tale with an anti-greed message. The music was memorable and so was the shock-ending.

"Of Glass And Pins": A very creepy carnival story with the goriest death-scene of them all. Steven Arden is known as the Glass Eater, an act of the carnival's freakshow. Amaryllis, one of the spectators, is desperately in love with him. But all the freaks of this carnival are under the spell of Snake Woman, and she will not tolerate any of her freaks leaving the circus, not even for love's sake.

"Children Of The Civil War": This is basically the gory freaked out version of CHILDREN OF THE CORN, disguised as a period piece. I really liked the way the story unfolded. The creepy kids gave decent performances and the atmosphere was terrific.

The wraparound story itself wasn't anything special, though. But still this is a decent anthology horror movie (despite its rather small budget) with good, solid short stories, all including a nice twist in the end. There's enough blood and (mild) gore to keep every horror-fan amused. When we look at writer/director Jeff Burr's resume, THE OFFSPRING might easily be one of his best genre efforts. It's worth seeking this one out.

The magnificent Vincent Price can be seen in several great Horror omnibuses from the 60s ("Tales of Terror", "Twice Told Tales"), and while the Horror-deity's screen-time is sadly limited in "The Offspring", this 80s feature is yet another highly recommendable omnibus starring Price. The popularity of Horror omnibuses/anthologies (more or less) began with the British 1945 classic "Dead of Night" and had its heyday in the 60s with films such as the aforementioned Vincent Price classics or the great Mario Bava's masterpiece "I Tre Volti Della Paura" ("Black Sabbath"/"The Three Faces of Fear", 1963, my choice for the greatest Horror omnibus out there), and 70s. The British Company Amicus even specialized in only doing Horror omnibuses, which resulted in such wonderful flicks as "The House That Dripped Blood" (1970) or "Torture Garden" (1967). A thing most of these anthologies have in common is that the separate tales they tell usually differ in quality, with one or two (depending on how many tales per film are told) usually standing out from the others. This cannot really be said about "From a Whisper to a Scream" as each of the tales is quite creepy and atmospheric and about equally memorable, and the question which is the best lies in the personal taste of the viewer.

The film, which is entirely set in the small town of Oldfield, Tennessee, starts with the execution of a female serial killer (cult siren Martine Beswick). When reporter Beth Chandler (Susan Tyrell), who witnessed the execution, pays a visit to the convict's sinister uncle Julian White (Vincent Price), he tells her that the town of Oldfield has always been evil, which he exemplifies by telling her four macabre stories.

All four stories are macabre, morbid and delightfully creepy. The first one (starring Clu Gulager) is a weird, quite explicit and very creepy tale deals with delicate psycho-sexual topics. The second chapter, a haunting tale about a lowlife crook who stumbles upon the secret of eternal life, is more elaborate and maybe even creepier than the first one. The third tale is about a traveling circus and voodoo, and as everyone who knows anything about Horror knows, circus folks are amongst the creepiest creatures one will ever stumble upon. Rosalind Cash is fantastic as a diabolical voodoo witch. Another creepiest species present in Horror cinema have always been... creepy children, and the fourth and final tale is another proof that kids can be more terrifying than anything. Set in the final days of the Civil War, the fourth story tells the tale of a bunch of brutal and ruthless soldiers, who happen to find an equal in a town full of orphans....

My main complaint about "From a Whisper to a Scream" is the fact that icon Vincent Price, who happens to be my favorite actor of all time, has too little screen-time. He merely serves as a narrator and sadly doesn't appear in any of the stories. Otherwise, the film actually surpassed my expectations. While it isn't the best Horror anthology ever made, the tension and creepiness doesn't stop and each tale macabre and highly entertaining. The film is gory, and its sense of humor is very morbid. Apart from Price, notable cast members include former Bond-girl, cave-babe and 'Sister Hyde' Martine Beswick, as well as Lawrence Tierney.

This was only the second film by director Jeff Burr ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre III"), and for that one must say he did an amazing job. "The Offspring" is a surprisingly good and highly entertaining 80s Horror omnibus, the only disappointment being that Vincent Price has too little screen time. Highly recommended.

We're all friends here at IMDb--one big happy movie watching community. So, I feel I can be honest with you all. I really liked this anthology. I liked it more than "Twilight Zone: The Movie," more than "Creepshow" and "Creepshow 2." The four vignettes in "From a Whisper to a Scream" were all imaginative and unique. The first one had an excellent surprise at the end. The second one had a great twist of fate. The third was stranger but still good. And the last one was some Children of the Corn/Lord of the Flies stuff.

All of the stories took place in Oldfield, TN. The incomparable Vincent Price narrated four stories to a reporter with each story going further back into the history of Oldfield. Each story was brilliant, so kudos to the writers. They were sadistic, supernatural, and satisfying. I want more.