The Witch Who Came from the Sea

Millie Perkins is a disturbed young woman plagued by disturbing visions.She hates men and castrates them because she was the victim of incest during her childhood."The Witch Who Came from the Sea" is a strange and moody exploitation flick with dream-like atmosphere and strong symbolism.Millie castrates two popular football players in fantastically oneiric sequence of sexual violence.The film is slow-moving and deeply unpleasant character study of woman's torment.The central performance of Millie Perkins is fantastic as is the supporting cast.If you are into beautiful and highly subversive 70's US horror you can't miss this oddity.8 mermaids out of 10.

A real oddity, seemingly made somewhat earlier than its 1976 release date would suggest. In some ways a classic exploitation but this has more serious aspirations and a decent script. It also looks good, being shot by the cameraman who would next move on to Carpenter's Halloween. The strange film is also given much credence thanks to the beguiling performance by Millie Perkins, who manages to infuse the proceedings with a serious and likeable nature, almost despite what we know is going on. The eventual explicit revelation of the traumatic childhood event that has been flagged throughout the movie is still pretty awful even if we did see it coming. There is no witch here, as such, it is not really a horror film despite horrors such as the aforementioned childhood incident and multiple killings but constantly engaging with all the characters adding much to the proceedings even if they are already amply presided over by a very fine performance from Perkins.

This one's a real weirdie. It's unique, surreal and genuinely disturbing, and Millie Perkins gives a memorably intense and bizarre performance as Molly. It goes out of its way to shock the viewer, and largely succeeds. It also features the single most upsetting childhood trauma flashback I've ever seen.

It's probably too much for most people's tastes, but if you enjoy flawed one-of-a-kind low budget '70s horror, it's worth a look if you can find it. I am a bit dubious about the exploitative way it uses the subject of child abuse device to shock and disturb the viewer, so be warned.

Like many films on the BBFC's "Video Nasty" list back in the eighties; The Witch Who Came from the Sea baffles the viewer because there really isn't anything in the film that should have lead to its banning. Sure, there's a little bit of blood and the suggestive child abuse scenes are a bit shocking, but this film is never going to corrupt or deprave. Anyway, while the shocks are disappointing, and I can understand why this isn't a widely liked cult classic; I've got to say that I really enjoyed it...and I should also mention that I'm not really sure why. The film features the age-old storyline of someone going insane and turning to murder, but it's surprisingly more relaxed in pace and content that many other similar movies. This one is also different because, rather than seeing a man butcher women; we've got a woman exacting violence against men. Molly is a young lady corrupted by memories of her seafaring father. She turns to drink, and soon becomes a killer after spending the night with two footballers. We then follow her on her dissent into alcoholism and insanity.

The film has that classic, gritty low budget look about it, which bodes well with the atmosphere presented. One of the main reasons why I liked this film is because it seems that writer Robert Thom and director Matt Cimber actually care about the plot and characters, and this is shown by the fact that a lot of the movie is spent building up the situation around the lead character. The movie remains interesting throughout because certain facts about the lead's past are fed to the audience bit by bit, and these help us to see why the character acts as she does. The lead role is taken by Millie Perkins, who actually does a really good job with it. It's easy to believe that she is the character we are seeing on screen, and her performance is above the average for this sort of film. The scenes of gore aren't all that shocking, and only the one that sees a man butchered with his razor is likely to provoke any kind of reaction from the audience. The castration sequences and the child abuse are what this film became notorious for, but I don't know why as they both are put forward in a very casual manner. Overall, however, I feel that The Witch Who Came from the Sea has been unfairly treated and should be remembered with a bit more respect.

Restored classic; one of the infamous video nasties banned in Britain.

Those looking for the juicy parts that were excised by the censors will be disappointed, as the stuff, even the castration with a razor blade, is tame by today's standards.

The film will be a little talkie as it is a tale of an abused child's descent into madness.

In a constant state of inebriation, Molly (Millie Perkins) suffers numerous flashbacks of abuse and pain.

Director Matt Cimber achieved his greatest status a couple of films later with three Razzie nominations for Butterfly with Pia Zadora.