Woman Who Came Back

"Woman Who Came Back" is an okay film made by one of the best 'poverty row' studios, Republic. It's a little better than average for one of their films but the ending just left me very cold and unsatisfied.

The film begins with a weird old lady and her dog stopping a bus. The lady climbs aboard and begins regaling a young lady (Nancy Kelly) with stories about how she is the spirit of a centuries-old witch! Soon, the bus plunges over an embankment and everyone aboard, aside from the young lady, is killed. Soon, strange thing happen around town (such as the dog appearing to the lady and refusing to leave her side) and slowly the idiots in the town and the lady begin to wonder if she is the reincarnation of the witch who was burned so long ago.

So far, the film is a bit silly but well done and entertaining. But the studio insisted on explaining away everything at the end--so much so that I felt it undermined the story. Still, it was mildly enjoyable and I always like seeing Otto Kruger in any film. Not great but a decent time-passer.

The Woman Who Came Back is one of the many low budget horror movies made in the 1940's. Of the ones I've seen, this is one of the best.

After surviving a bus crash, a young woman comes back to her home town of Eben Rock and thinks she is a 300 year old witch and blames herself for a series of strange happenings in the town which include the bus crash and making a little girl become ill.

This movie is rather creepy at times and includes a thunderstorm and some good photography.

The cast includes Nancy Kelly (Tarzan's Desert Mystery, Bad Seed) as the "Witch", Otto Kruger (The Colossus of New York) and John Loder (Now, Voyager).

The Woman Who Came Back is a must for old horror fans. See it if you get the chance.

Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5.

Extremely atmospheric at times... eerie, dark and suspenseful. I loved all the film minus the ending. Eerie Halloween costumes, creepy dolls, a very protective - almost evil - German Shepard, strange happenings in the town of Eden Rock, Massachusetts, dead roses, a scary old lady, a witch in town - yea this film has everything needed for a great horror film if they would have kept it that way in the ending.

I really liked Rev. Jim Stevens he's a really good character and his church sermon was scene was great - if you have seen this film you know the scene I'm speaking of - really outstanding.

The dead roses scene at the beginning of the film would have been good IF John Loder, who plays Dr. Matt Adams, would have acted shocked about the fresh roses being dead when he gave them to Nancy Kelly (who plays Lorna Webster). He almost ruined that scene with his wooden performance - at least Nancy Kelly continued with grace.

I would have rated this film 9/10 if it wasn't for the ending - the film is great but I was disappointed with the ending.

7/10

THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK is a 1940s-era spook fest with much in line with the Val Lewton horrors of the era. It's a low-key, atmospheric production about a woman who arrives at a small town in Massachusetts and is the only survivor of a bus crash (shades of UNBREAKABLE). Once she settles down in the town, the superstitious locals begin to suspect that she's possessed by the spirit of a vengeful witch.

It's fair to say that not much really happens in this movie, and nor does it need to. THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK is a short, thinly-plotted story that's more about building a sense of mood and place than anything else. It's quite expressionistic in style, with lots of shadowy scenes and spooky, half-explained moments. The cast are certainly adroit and the only thing that really lets it down is the ending, but until that point? Lewton himself would be proud.

The Woman Who Came Back is a largely unknown little forties horror film; but it's a rather good one also. The film focuses on witchcraft, and in particular the idea of a witch coming back to avenge her death. This idea would of course go on to be used in many, many films after 1945; but this is one of the earlier examples. The Woman Who Came Back is an eerie horror film that mostly relies on its atmosphere and inventiveness in order to deliver the chills, and this works quite effectively. The plot focuses on a young woman named Lorna Webster who catches a bus back home to Eben Rock. She finds herself sitting next to a cackling old woman, and before she knows it; the bus has been involved in an accident and Lorna is the only survivor. She then goes back to her old house and is reacquainted with her old lover; but she's haunted by the old woman on the bus who told Lorna of an old town legend regarding a witch that swore vengeance on her executioner. One thing leads to another, and Lorna comes to believe she is the reincarnation of that witch...

The film is very short at just sixty eight minutes, but this time is used very well and the film doesn't feel rushed or underdone for most of the duration. The plot flows very well too and director Walter Colmes keeps his audience interested by constantly feeding us with new ideas and pieces of information. There isn't a great deal of films about witchcraft (compared to other subgenres) and that's a shame really because it certainly is very interesting. This film manages to get most of things that most people would associate with witchcraft into it; including spells and the witch's familiar, which helps to make the proceedings more interesting. The performances are all very strong; with Nancy Kelly giving a particularly convincing performance in the central role. It's the atmosphere that is the real star, however, and a sequence midway through with a storm is a real standout. The film is good for about the first hour but unfortunately it's let down more than just a little bit by the ending; which does wrap things up a bit too quickly. However, this is still a very good little film and one that I'm sure will please most people with a mind to see it.