The Witch's Mirror is a film that mixes numerous horror ideas into one incoherent, but brilliantly fun little film. The Witch's Mirror is directed by Chano Urueta, who also made the completely bizarre Brainiac in 1962. It's clear that Urueta has an eye for visuals and isn't too bothered about telling a story, as both The Witch's Mirror and Brainiac are heavy on the style without putting too much focus on the plot. This film has borrowed from numerous horror classics, from American films such as Mad Love to the French classic Eyes Without a Face. The plot focuses on witchcraft and sorcery, and more specifically; the act of mastering the use of a mirror. A witch named Sara enchants a mirror in order to protect Elena, her adopted daughter, from her nasty husband Eduardo. However, the enchantment doesn't work as planned, and when it fails; Elena is murdered, which leads the witch to try and get her revenge through a series of supernatural spells and sorcery.
The fact that the plot is incoherent obviously hinders the film, but there's so much going on that it's not a big problem. The Witch's Mirror isn't dull for a moment as there's always something going on to hold the audience's interest. The film includes themes of witchcraft and sorcery, as well as a big dose of mad science, as the film's doctor attempts to reconstruct his wife's deformed face. The special effects are superb considering the film is almost forty five years old, and they're also a marked improvement over the largely silly effects seen in Brainiac. The film is rather arty - more so even than The Curse of the Crying Woman, but that's not a negative comment as The Witch's Mirror features some truly beautiful sequences, which are well utilised and make the film more memorable. Overall, I can't see a good reason not to enjoy this film. It's not dull for a second, features some of the best art sequences in horror and does well at mixing a number of different horror ideas. It's not the best film from the recent batch of Casa Negra releases, but it's still well worth watching!
