Anyone even vaguely interested in British horror cinema will be well acquainted with the resume of Michael Reeves. Retrospectively crowned the great white hope who-never-was by genre commentators like Kim Newman and Allan 'Dark Side' Bryce, Reeves' work showed the promise of an English Spielberg. Or possibly just another Peter Sasdy. Unfortunately we'll never know, as his life was truncated by an overdose of sleeping pills. But on the evidence of this film and it's successor,'Witchfinder General', it's clear that he possessed a genuinely cinematic imagination to rival young Steven's. A quality all too rare in British film.
'Witchfinder' is good. Very good. But on balance I prefer this piece. Perhaps that's partly a personal reaction to the rather inflated claims made for Reeves' last film by certain critics, who seek to present it as the work of a suicidal soul-in-torment auteur. C'mon fellas. 'The Sorcerers' is quirky and takes itself slightly too seriously, resulting in a strange, enjoyably naive atmosphere. I particularly enjoy the unique screen presence of Victor Henry, who plays Ian Ogilvy's ginger haired friend Alan. I was saddened to learn (via the ever-educational IMDb) that he was involved in a road traffic accident not too long after making this film, and spent the last 17 years of his short life in a vegetative state. Another potential talent lost.
Ignore the wits who claim that this is a work which dissects and critiques the function and form of cinema itself, etc, etc. These people create subtexts for Pete Walker films in their spare time. Enjoy it simply as a movie where Ian Ogilvy listens to Cliff Richard's 'Out in the country' on his dansette, and then slashes up Susan George with a pair of scissors.
Hey. 'Wired for sound' gets me the same way.
