Witchcraft

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.