User reviews

When I finally caught up with it, this turned out to be a nice little mid-1960s thriller, made very much in the style of a Hammer Films production (indeed, as such it makes a suitable double-feature with the film it's paired with on DVD, DEVILS OF DARKNESS)- it makes good use of settings, has a decent script and quite adequate acting (especially a typically hammy late-career performance from Lon Chaney Jr), and evokes a very effective atmosphere of evil. What I was most surprised about (and impressed with) was the striking black-and-white photography and lighting, which really contributed to that atmosphere, particularly in its use of the reawakened witch. Definitely a fun, creepy movie for a rainy Saturday afternoon!

The movie WITCHCRAFT certainly was never meant to be Shakespeare nor an episode of "Masterpiece Theater", so you can't expect it to be great intellectual entertainment. However, as a relatively low-budget horror film, it manages to deliver quite well.

While the film stars Lon Chaney, Jr., he doesn't seem to be the star and he's not a welcome addition to the film. All he seems to do is yell a lot and you wonder why everyone in the film has a nice British accent while Lon doesn't!! Still, it's a dandy tale about a couple greedy land brokers who accidentally unleash the spirit of a dead witch when they thoughtlessly bulldoze a graveyard. Considering that the witch was buried alive and had the powers of Hell at her disposal, it isn't surprised that she returns to seek vengeance on the family who buried her. Heck, maybe she's so angry because she was alive all that time (about 300 years) waiting to be released--gee that would be boring!!

The film has an intelligently written plot, good acting (apart from Chaney) and solid pacing--making you believe, somehow, that all this COULD be real! The only problem, and it's a small one, is that in one scene where a lady discovers a Satanic coven, she yells out to one of them as she recognizes her! If any SANE person saw these human sacrificing nuts, I doubt if their first impulse would be to yell out but instead would just leave....and very, very quietly!! Good low-budget entertainment that manages to be better than usual even with this one silly mistake.

In all honesty "Witchcraft" is just an average British horror accomplishment from the sixties, but I'm slightly biased and overenthusiastic because I'm a big admirer of the subject matter (witchery and family curses), the director (Don Sharp also made "Psychomania", "Dark Places" and many other overlooked genre movies) and the notorious cool guy who receives top billing even though he only sporadically appears in the film (Lon Chaney in finally another role that suits his grim appearance). Somewhere deep in the remote en rural British countryside, the centuries old feud between the Whitlock clan and the Lanier family sparks up again. For the big upcoming real estate project of the Laniers, a bulldozer ravages straight through the Whitlock family cemetery and destroys the grave of 17th Century ancestress Vanessa Whitlock, whom was accused of witchery and buried alive by the Lanier family. Well, the accusation wasn't false for sure, as Vanessa promptly rises from the tomb and teams up with the grumpy Morgan Whitlock in order to bring the entire Lanier family down. Several members of the Lanier family die in mysterious circumstances, but complications arise when it turns out that Morgan's little niece Amy is in love with a Lanier enemy. "Witchcraft" is a competent enough and well-paced occult thriller with gloomy black & white cinematography, a couple of original ideas in its screenplay and an extremely tense finale. Lon Chaney Jr. is naturally menacing, but the biggest creeps are provided by Yvette Rees as silent the hypnotically staring witch Vanessa Whitlock. If she would appear behind me on a flight of stairs, I would surely throw myself down from them as well! There are also two very nifty and imaginative fright scenes involving a car and its passenger(s) driving through a bumpy landfill and towards certain death, although in their minds it looks as if they're driving on a safe and cozy lane.

... who does very little through the entire film but threaten people and wave his cane around. And yet he is top billed.

Morgan Whitlock (Lon Chaney Jr.) is angry with the Lanier family for bulldozing the Whitlock family cemetery so that they can put in new construction. But he's also mad because 300 years ago the Lanier family had condemned a member of his family, Vanessa Whitlock, as a witch and used the opportunity to seize the Whitlock family estate. So the bad blood goes way back.

Unfortunately, the Laniers didn't have her burned at the stake but buried her alive. Also unfortunately, her coffin was disinterred by the bulldozing. And very unfortunately, she is still alive 300 years later, and not in the best of moods.

I'm surprised Vampira didn't sue the makers of this movie because the freed Vanessa never speaks, never makes any telling expression, just stalks about like, well, Vampira! And the Laniers are much too likeable and fair minded individuals to make good objects of revenge for Vanessa Whitlock.

There are some subplots of interest - in the tradition of Romeo and Juliet a young couple, one in the Lanier family the other in the Whitlock family, are in love. The matriarch of the Lanier family hasn't left her room since the death of her husband years ago, and she also has come to believe she cannot walk. And who builds a family crypt that connects to the main house anyway? Finally, as in so many British films, "an inspector calls" as people start dying in weird ways, but atypically turns out to be pretty useless as the Laniers seem to be on their own in figuring this out for themselves.

In an American film you'd probably be able to tell who survives and who is killed by the witch, but since this is a British film the survivors and victims are unexpected. It certainly was better than I expected considering the no-name cast, thus raising my rating of it just a bit.

I had always been interested in checking out this one, as much for the late eminent critic Leslie Halliwell's favorable assessment of the movie as for its coverage (from the time of the original release) in a monthly magazine which my father used to collect called "Film Review".

WITCHCRAFT allows horror icon Lon Chaney Jr. (top-billed here but appearing only intermittently throughout!) one of his best latter-day roles – though he gives a rather one-note performance. Jack Hedley (later star of Lucio Fulci's notorious slasher THE NEW YORK RIPPER [1982]) is well cast as the young lead, projecting the right mix of ruggedness and intelligence. Notable, too, is Yvette Rees as the revived witch – actually reminiscent of Barbara Steele from Mario Bava's seminal BLACK Sunday (1960) in her simultaneous evocation of sensuality and repulsion; all of her appearances (including nightly visitations upon current members of her family's rival clan who had her buried alive centuries ago!) denote some of the movie's visual and dramatic highlights.

As a matter of fact, the film emerges as one of four classic British occult chillers – the others being NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957), THE CITY OF THE DEAD (1960) and NIGHT OF THE EAGLE (1962) – which clearly serve to establish the fact that there was life within the field outside of Hammer Films…although, on this preliminary viewing, I'd say WITCHCRAFT is a notch below the other three. Incidentally, being the last to come out, it shows definite influences emanating from the concurrent flood of Italian genre offerings (with, as I said, any number of arresting Bavaesque images) courtesy of Don Sharp's stylish mise-en-scene – demonstrating once again his flair for Gothic horror also displayed in Hammer's THE KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963) – and Arthur Lavis' crisp black-and-white cinematography. The few coven scenes – especially one that is foolishly interrupted by heroine Jill Dixon, leading to her immediate abduction – bear a strong similarity to those in THE CITY OF THE DEAD; Carlo Martelli's moody score effectively complements the eerie proceedings, which culminate in a typical but satisfying fiery climax.

Still, I found the script somewhat problematic and was slightly bothered by the following rather glaring goofs/plot contrivances: during the scene in which Jack Hedley is being compelled to drive towards a precipice by the witch, there's a cut to the car back on the main road (unless this was intended as an illusion, for Hedley to keep going regardless – but it's not made exceedingly clear and, in fact, there's been a recent discussion on this very point in the "Classic Horror Film Board"!) and couldn't they have come up with a different method of disposing of the brothers in the first place (especially since no ominous devil-doll is seen anywhere near them at that time!); also, the fact that Hedley and his brother would go off on a business trip and leave their loved ones behind (including a bed-ridden grandmother) when a couple of unexplained deaths have already occurred, the girl staying with them (the brother's girlfriend) may or may not be involved in witchcraft herself and the vengeful head of their rival clan is about to be sprung from jail!; finally, the thirteen members of the coven enter the crypt to begin the pivotal Sabbath rituals but singularly fail to notice straight away the absence of their intended sacrifice (Dixon) from the room – conveniently allowing the girl and her saviors enough time to flee the premises unharmed!

Despite the rather disappointing (if not surprising) lack of extra material found on this "Midnite Movie" 2-discer released from Fox, the included photo gallery does allow one a rare and intriguing look (in color, no less!) behind the scenes of this modest but classy production.

A 300 year long feud between a a coven of witches and a family of wealthy land developers comes to a head when an old cemetery plot is disturbed, unearthing the grave of a witch once buried alive. Morgan Whitlock, head of the coven , now has his means to take revenge on the usurpers of his land and sets the resurrected witch upon them.

A rarely seen and almost forgotten horror, Witchcraft is now available on the MGM / Fox "Midnight Movies" label, paired as a double feature with Devils of Darkness. The big draw for me is that it's one of the last legitimate horror films in the career of Lon Chaney Jr., so seeing it nearly pristine on DVD is a treat I never thought I might indulge in. To my surprise, Chaney's part wasn't quite as big as I hoped, but this is okay as the rest of the cast is made up of mostly British actors, and the Brits rarely disappoint in the realm of horror. Better still is that Hammer Film veteran Don Sharp is at the helm, who has given us Kiss of the Vampire, and Rasputin the Mad Monk, among other genre pictures. Handsomely shot in black and white, Witchcraft has all the atmosphere that both Gothic and 60's contemporary horror fans crave. The mute witch makes for an eerie apparition as she silently stalks her prey, I might liken the scenes of her on the prowl to scenes in A Drop of Water from Bava's masterful anthology.

While it's true that the plot is nothing new I do feel the film has style to burn. Modern viewers will likely doze off as it is bloodless and the pacing is a bit lethargic, however in many scenes this deliberate pacing works very well. 7/10

A modest but good British horror film that offers a decent part for aging star Lon Chaney. There has been a feud going on between the Whitlock family and the Lanier family ever since the 17th century when the Laniers denounced young Vanessa Whitlock as a witch and buried her alive. Now in modern day England, the Laniers are part of a land developing business that is running bulldozers over the ancient Whitlock graveyard and disturbing their headstones, much to the protest of head spokesman Morgan Whitlock (Chaney). To make matters worse, Morgan's niece Amy (Diane Claire) is in love with Bill Lanier (Jack Hedley). When the tomb of Vanessa Whitlock gets accidentally desecrated, the angered witch (Yvette Rees) rises to seek vengeance by placing curses on the Laniers. It's nice to see Lon Chaney amidst this devilish action, and he adds dignity to what was one of his last good horror movies. Director Don Sharp (Hammer's KISS OF THE VAMPIRE) sets up a few eerie shots and imbues these black and white proceedings with a haunting atmosphere. This movie would make a fine double feature with HORROR HOTEL (aka "The City of the Dead"). *** out of ****

Rather humdrum movie fare here about an ancient witch, once laid to rest by being buried alive, but now out and about due to a developer's plan that bulldozes an ancestral cemetery. Vanessa Whitlock, the aforementioned witch, is back out to get the family that drove her to her grave and took the Whitlock manor and money. This movie is nothing really new in terms of plot and story, but, with an almost British cast, is done somewhat competently in terms of direction and acting. The biggest problem is that very little happens to aid any real suspense. Director Don Sharp is effective but the scenes tend to plod on. There are some bright parts with an interesting tomb underneath the house, but the lighting is too dark through much of the picture. Lon Chaney stars as the leading surviving member of the Whitlock clan and is a warlock himself practicing the "old" religion. Unfortunately for the viewer, Chaney is not in the picture very much. He is really the best part of the film and still an acting force at this stage in his career. He had little opportunities in the 60s to flex his acting muscle as his types of films had become passé, and his lifestyle of boozing had taken its toll. You can see that time had not been to kind to him, but he still has enough screen presence to demand the viewer's attention. This is a very difficult film to find in any condition, and it would be nice if it were given some consideration for a DVD-quality remastering if possible. As I said, the film itself is not great in any way, but Chaney is there and that is enough for me.

Witchcraft may not have quite enough about it to ensure it 'classic' status; but it's more than decent effort and certainly a good example of the massively overused 'witch coming back from the grave for revenge' cliché. It has to be said that the film doesn't have a lot of excitement and the story drones rather than leaps from one step to the next; but the film never gets boring either, and experienced horror director Don Sharp (who directed a number of films for Hammer as well as several other genre entries) does a good job of keeping the film interesting enough to ensure that the slow burning plot isn't too big a problem. The plot itself seems to take a bit of influence from Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet and focuses on two families; at war over a century's old feud. The Laniers are accused by the Whitlock's of burying a Whitlock accused of witchcraft alive. This is not good news for Amy Whitlock and Bill Lanier, who have plans to get married. The feud is irritated further by the fact that the Laniers are planning to build on the Whitlock's cemetery...

The film's big name is the excellent Lon Chaney Jr who, while billed as the movie's big star, actually takes up more of a supporting role. However, he still manages to stand out as ever as the sinister patriarch of the Whitlock family. The film is shot in black and white and while it's clear that Witchcraft didn't have much of a budget to go on, the film does look nice and the black and white picture aids in giving Witchcraft a thick, foreboding atmosphere. The film does have a few different things going on at once, which gives it more opportunity to be interesting, though it isn't capitalised on. The Romeo and Juliet style plot is the most annoying example of this as very little is made of it. The film does lack suspense, although it does well with the mystery side of the plot and the way that the film builds up the introduction of the ancient vengeful witch is haunting and unsettling. It is true that Witchcraft is far from great and really could have been much better if more was made of it; but in spite of that, I can't dislike this film too much because it makes for a nice, relaxed viewing and I did have fun watching it.

Suspenseful '60s tail of witchcraft, gilded by Lon Chaney, Jr cameo. Little onscreen violence and plenty of ominous characters posed in front of expensive, but faded, wallpaper in fine old English settings. As you would expect, many dramatic moments involve actors starring off to the distance and uttering vague statements wile the music swells in a minor key. In short, a delightful time capsule!

I first saw Witchcraft on TV when i was around seven years old and it scared the pants off me! I used to have this feeling for years afterwards that the witch stood in my garden looking up at my window waiting for me to peek from behind my curtain late at night! Since then of course I've grown up and out of that fear (ive also moved house umpteenth times) and if anything i now find the witch (Yvette Rees) quite sexy and she could haunt me anytime! Even though I'm lucky enough to own a copy of the film i think its a shame that it isn't available on DVD. Its now perhaps thought of as dated and is to all intents forgotten but for me it will always remain the horror movie that showed me for the first time what the cinema was capable of. Itll always have a special place in my heart. Ill watch it every now and again and it takes me straight back to my childhood and daring myself to peek around that bedroom curtain. A forgotten horror classic.

This is one of Lon Chaney Jr's last films - it's considered to be his last significant role by some. His part is really good and Chaney is outstanding. I could almost swear he was really angry in this film - he played the part of Morgan Whitlock so well.

The rest of the cast is just as good - convincing! Some of the sets in this film are very creepy looking and created a great atmosphere. The story was pretty good too for a film about witchcraft.

Overall a good film. This one might make a great double feature with House of the Black Death (1965) or The City of the Dead (aka Horror Hotel) (1960).

7.5/10

I remember this being on telly one Saturday night when I was 8 or 9 years old, we were being babysat, and had been allowed to stay up.

The appearance of the witch in the back of the car completely freaked me out then, and it's a memory that I carry with me 50 years later. While it's been completely superseded these days with CGI and a desire for much more in-your-face violence and gore, it's still got a gothic dread about it.

Hard to find these days, but worth watching if you do come across it.

All the ingredients for a good story about witchcraft are assembled for this minor British entry, well photographed in low-key style with effective B&W photography and featuring a competent, but rather not well-known British cast, with the exception of LON CHANEY, JR. who has a minor role despite being top-billed.

JACK HEDLEY is the land developer who is too late in stopping the Lanier family from building a construction site that disturbs the Whitlock graveyard. The feuding families even have a "Romeo and Juliet" sub-plot going with Hedley's son, David WESTON, involved in a romance with Chaney's grand-daughter DIANE CLARE. The desecration of the grave site causes a 300-year-old woman buried alive as a witch to return from the grave to wreck havoc on the Lanier family.

It's a simple plot and it plays fairly well but there is nothing new to the material and it's been done before in a thousand different ways. The vengeance theme gets a workout with various members meeting untimely deaths and there's a big fire at the conclusion where the past is buried once and for all.

Biggest drawback is that Chaney doesn't fit into the proceedings with his American accent, so it's probably a good thing his role is a minor one. He was clearly not in the best of health at the time and it weakens even his subordinate role.

YVETTE REES as the vengeful, wordless witch who was buried alive gives the film's most chillingly sinister performance.

This is a pretty decent little chiller set in sixties Britain. It's also one of those horror films that wouldn't have been as good in colour.

The trouble starts when a witch's grave is disturbed by developers planning to renovate the Lanier estate. The grave is of Vanessa Whitlock (the scary Yvette Reees), now the Laniers and Whitlocks have been enemies for centuries Vanessa had been accused of witchcraft and buried alive. Now she's back and with the help of her ancestors (including Lon Chaney Jr) is causing mayhem on the Lanier estate. It's up to brothers Todd and Bill, and Bill's wife Tracy (Jill Dixon) to stop them. It's great fun and a romance between Todd and Amy Whitlock is played out very well.

I'd never heard of this film before and would recommend it to fans of sixties black and white horror.

WITCHCRAFT stars Lon Chaney Jr. as Morgan Whitlock, the head of a family with ancient ties to black magic and devil worship. Whitlock is upset that the family's ancestral graveyard is being bulldozed for future development. Adding insult to injury, this is being done by the Lanier family, the descendants of the very people who killed many Whitlocks as witches!

Let the feud begin.

This is a wonderfully dark, diabolical film, full of doom and death by bizarre "accidents". The real fun starts when Vanessa Whitlock (Yvette Rees) rises from her cold earth to exact vengeance. She's the perfect ghoul, in a Barbara Steele / Vampira sort of way! Very entertaining, with a nice touch of bleakness. Chaney Jr. is at his best as Whitlock, making one wish he'd been able to continue his career minus his personal difficulties...

Seven might be a little generous, but this film represents the end of the line for quality black and white British horror of it's time, a sub genre for "witch" I have great affection. From "Curse Of The Demon" to "City Of The Dead" and "Night Of The Eagle" it's brought me much pleasure- even "The Haunting" (which had a small role for "Witchcraft's Diane Clare) was shot if not set in England.

Something of a rarity, "Witchcraft" never turned up much on TV and I don't think was ever on video, the "Midnight Movie" DVD series has rescued many titles this way. I doubt Lon Chaney Jr, (who's drinking problem gave them a very hard time on the set) was the first choice for American Star worked in to give the film overseas distribution potential. His performance is not great but get's the job done and offers some distraction from the too talky plot.

What makes the film well worth seeing is some of the visual touches director Don Sharp applies in place of expensive special effects. Indeed, these work better than the big fire at the end of the films rather clumsy climax. All in all, if you enjoy this sort of thing, you are likely to like it.

Well-filmed, well-scripted and mostly well-acted, this supernatural mystery thriller action film by Tasmanian director Don Sharp tells the story of the culmination of a family feud which appears to date back to Medieval times in s small English town. The film starts out with a front end loader demolishing a cemetary while members of the Whitlock family, led by Lon Chaney Jr., protest. The demolition opens the grave of a powerful witch (Vanessa Whitlock - Yvette Rees) who had been buried alive 300 years ago. And guess what, she's not quite dead, and she's decided to gather her descendants into a new coven to finally carry out the extermination of their mortal enemies, the Laniers.

Rees and Chaney, though their roles are fairly modest in terms of screen time, drive most of the tension in this creepy little story. Chaney is menacing, Rees is just plain cold evil. Most of the action focuses on their would-be victims, the Laniers.

The sets, decent - if simple - characterization, and the clever use of plot devices to retain an element of mystery and to grow suspense are what sustained my interest throughout the first 3/4ths of this film. I don't write spoilers, so suffice to say that the last 1/4 of the film, as it transforms into an action-oriented thriller, is where I started to lose interest. Still, the film was worthwhile enough to affect my dreams. I watched it in two sittings and slept between them. I dreamt an ending for this film which would have, I am convinced, been much better - though a lot more disturbing - than the one the film settled for.

Bottom line - a fun one, but don't expect too much!

Having watched horror movies from the age of four, and still going strong today in my 40s. Two films that spring to mind that scared me as a kid were "The Night Walker", and "Witchcraft". unfortunately neither are shown anymore on TV,which to me is a great pity as films like this do give you the creeps and certain scenes from these movies still stand firmly in my memory after all this time. Forget all the gallons of blood and gory mutilation that movies today seem to rely on. Give the audience the old traditional things that go bump in the night, the dark shadows flashing across the walls, eerie sounds etc... With the movie Witchcraft, I can remember a couple of sheer terror moments as a child watching this at my Nans house. One being a woman gets into her car in the morning, she checks into the rear view mirror everything fine.She glances a second time, only this time the witch is sitting in the back seat staring at her. This then results in her crashing the vehicle down an embankment. The second scene is a man taking a bath,and in another part of town the witch is holding a voodoo doll of the man, then submerges the doll into a water vat, thus drowning him. Hope this film will become available on DVD someday.. after all its been 35yrs since I last saw it..

If the script does not contain the basic elements then unfortunately no matter how much the director and cast try the film will not work,such is the case here.Lon Chaney is top billed but appears for probably about 5 minutes.He looks truly awful.Whilst interesting to watch it does not seriously compare with Night Of The Demons.