Night of the Witches

I don't know what they were thinking when they made this horror cheapie but it turned out to be unique and fun. I haven't seen this movie in many, many years but I remember it fondly for its goofiness. It was shown on late night TV in the late 70's or early 80's. For some reason, I still recall the lyrics to the main character's countryish theme song:

"He's a man of many pleasures, He's a man who's got the time, He's the man who told the preacher where to go - oh - oh ... He won't talk behind your back, He's no ordinary jack, He's a man of many pleasures, don't ya know" -- Has this film ever been released on DVD or VHS? If anyone can point me in the direction of a copy, please e-mail me!

-B O N G O"

1970's "Night of the Witches" was issued on a double bill with the Canadian feature "Dr. Frankenstein on Campus," short lived outfit Medford Films offering what must have been a mind numbing experience for those not already high on acid. Actor Keith Larsen ended his career by directing himself in six vehicles, of which this was the third, cowritten with Vincent Fotre, whose only other genre credits were 1958's "Missile to the Moon" and the English dubbed version of Mario Bava's 1972 "Baron Blood," starring Joseph Cotten and Elke Sommer. Using the pseudonym 'Keith Erik Burt' (his real name was Keith Larsen Burt), he casts himself as Preacher Ezra Jackson, an unrepentant sinner and thief who capitalizes on being a man of the cloth by ogling every female within easy reach, almost immediately as he seduces a pretty Latina while her boyfriend is fishing, then steals their jalopy to lead the cops on a merry chase on dusty mountain roads (shooting in Agoura, California). There are occasional cutaways to a private sanctuary housing a group of flower children who follow the Zodiac and earn their wealth telling fortunes, high priestess Cassandra (Kathryn Loder) leading each 'levitation,' in which some unfortunate soul goes to a better place with a drink of hemlock. It's definitely a clash between two irresistible forces, a supposed Preacher spouting the Gospel, and naive witches who believe they are righteously performing acts of kindness through the will of the stars, with a rock soundtrack of telltale lyrics to provide exposition. The ceremonies tend to drag, too much meandering for no purpose, a relationship developing between witch Athena (Randy Stafford) and handsome Frank Evans (Ron Taft), who seeks to spare her from the authorities while also unloading a million dollar island for cash. There's precious little horror to be found, some amusement yet not a comedy, accurately described as a psychedelic exercise that saw much exposure on television for a decade before vanishing. With a title like "Night of the Witches" it might have been Larsen's attempt to tap into the youth market with a modern update on "The Night of the Hunter," but his preacher was no Robert Mitchum and the acting was nonexistent (current prints are in awful condition).

This movie does not fool around. The main character, a preacher, gets right into the action within the first five minutes of the film and lets the audience in on just what a rotten heel of a guy he is - and will remain throughout the entire film. A rather strange and bizarre film and even more amazingly without any gore or blood whatsoever. The eye catchers are a coven of witches who have set up shop somewhere - the exact location is never specified - and live by the Zodiac and astrological prognostications - which foretell that any number of visitors who come across their path will die horrible and bloody deaths - so in order to prevent that from happening, they take the law into their own hands and poison them before they can die violently. The women who appear on this film are all pretty attractive and the men in it are mostly a bunch of low grade morons. But this movie is kind of fun to watch in a cheesy sort of way just as long as you don't take the goings on very seriously.

I saw this movie as a child and was blown away! This wonderful late-night low budget movie is an effective thriller! A zodiac cult lures it's victims to a greater reward at a beach front mansion in seventies California! The movie is a bit tongue and cheek but the costumes and music are fabulous! The movie made it's rounds on the early days of TBS and I was lucky enough to get a copy! Love it!

Preacher Keith Larsen travels around Mexico using religion to seduce women. I've recently watched "The Ballad of Cable Hogue" in which David Warner plays a similar preacher character. Both films are from 1970 so that was thing for preachers in those days. It's only unrealistic in that they would prefer same sex relationships in real life. Anyway, Larsen is on the run from police for theft of an automobile and no doubt, several outstanding rape charges, when he finally makes it to a coastal mansion occupied by several women. Boy, is he in Heaven! Or has he actually arrived at Hell?

The big house is run by a coven of witches who worship astrology and, in their own way, are doing mankind a favour by killing people who are due to die painfully, by killing them off early. Kathryn Loder (Cassandra) is the High Priestess who controls the group and she is committed to her work.

The film is a comedy horror which thankfully doesn't have any gore. It's colourful and kookie but unfortunately, the quality is not good. It's a crazy storyline that is punctuated with a chorus that sings "Amen" at the end of each piece of philosophizing or prayer by our vicar. This film is definitely different. It's trashy entertainment – not sure it's very good, though. I guess that's the point of being trashy. It's a camp-fest.