Night of the Witches

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.

Sporting a movie-western badman's black hat, a Bible-beating preacher (Keith Erik Burt, a.k.a. The movie's director, Keith Larsen) interrupts a fisherman and his girlfriend during their ocean-side picnic. After instructing the boyfriend to catch another fish for him, the preacher seduces the girl and steals their jalopy. A pair of cops chase the preacher, who eludes them in a dirt-and-mud town. In his flight, the preacher stumbles upon a house of vaguely Satanic witches, led by the astrology-spouting Cassandra (Kathryn Loder).

In a concurrent development, a real estate salesman named Frank (Ron Taft) investigates the disappearance of his middle-aged boss, who earlier had infiltrated the witches' domain and was last seen as a willing participant in one of their demonic dance parties.

Frank and the preacher arrive at Cassandra's abode around the same time. Frank falls in love with one of Cassandra's dippy followers and ends up protecting the witches from the encroaching police. The preacher attempts to blackmail the witches, which as you might guess is a mistake.

A frequent denizen of the late-late-late show during the early years of Turner Broadcasting's Superstation, NIGHT OF THE WITCHES is an unfunny comedy that also tries to be a horror movie and a mild sex romp. In its favor, NIGHT OF THE WITCHES is ripe with snatches of psychedelic hippie dialog, a baffling mixture of sets and costumes from different eras (from the Old West to modern-day gangsters), and a car-chase first, in which a Model T outruns a big General Motors V-8 sedan.

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!

"Night of the Witches" is a psychedelic 70's horror comedy about a lewd preacher who meets up with a coven of sexy witches.The main witch Cassandra often speaks with Jupiter in her colorful mansion.Very strange and somewhat surreal horror comedy with several truly bizarre characters.The character of preacher totally cracked me up.I enjoyed the main country song too.It goes like that ""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".The lack of nudity is a bit of disappointing,but if you are a fan of 70's weirdness grab the copy of Keith Larsen's "Night of the Witches" and treasure it!7 witches out of 10.Abre la puerta!

Seeing this movie for the first time, one just might think they are viewing another low-budget piece of silliness. The sets and costumes are so dated, and the location screams Santa Barbara, California.

But there is more than meets the eye!

1) The villain is a phony preacher in a Model T causing mischief wherever he goes. Possibly a nod to "Night of the Hunter"?

2) The location is not Southern California, but rather some nondescript coastal area of Mexico. We never really find out.

3) In spite of the year, there are no typical hippies or drugs. Instead, we find witches and other bizarre things awaiting.

Though the movie does not take itself too seriously, the storyline holds its own very well. There is no excess violence or vulgarity. A real gem!