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YouTube reviews:
Trailer:
Title sequence by Terry Gilliam:
Release:
The US theatrical release featured the ‘GP’ rated print which changed Terry Gilliam’s opening animated credits to still ones, replaced Wilfred Josephs’ music score with one by Les Baxter – and was cut to remove all footage of topless nudity and to tone down assorted whippings and assault scenes. This print was also used for the original UK cinema release in 1970.
The 1988 UK Guild video release featured the same heavily edited print as the US and UK cinema ones. Fortunately, all DVD releases feature the full uncut version, which also restores the original soundtrack score by Wilfred Josephs.
Plot (contains spoilers):
Elizabethan England. Lord Edward Whitman, a wicked magistrate, presides over the trial of a young woman. Ruling that she is a witch, he has her branded, whipped through the streets, then placed in the village stocks.
That night, Whitman hosts a feast at his home as his henchmen search the countryside for the killers of a sheep. Two poor teenagers are pulled into the hall. A burst of wolf-like howling from outside the walls warns that they may be “devil-marked”. Both are killed in an ensuing struggle. Whitman’s wife, Lady Patricia, calls Whitman a murderer for this. When Whitman’s oldest son, Sean, carnally defiles Lady Patricia, Whitman decides he wants to “clean up” the witches in the area.
Assisted by Sean, Whitman goes hunting in the hills for witches. His armed posse breaks up what seems to be a witches’ Black Sabbath. He kills several of them and tells the rest to scatter to the hills and never return. This angers the leader of the coven, Oona.
To get revenge on the Whitman family, Oona summons a demonic spirit to destroy the family. Unfortunately, the spirit takes possession of the loyal servant, Roderick, with whom Maureen Whitman has been in love for years. Roderick begins to systematically kill off members of the Whitman family, including Sean and Lady Patricia.
Eventually, Harry, Whitman’s son from Cambridge, and a priest named Father Tom discover Oona and her coven conjuring the death of Maureen. They kill Oona and her coven, and Roderick, who was attacking Maureen, breaks off and leaves her. However, he soon returns and attacks Whitman. Maureen shoots the demon in the head, apparently killing him.
Exhilarated that the curse is over, Whitman plans to leave the house by coach with his remaining children. On the way, he stops at the cemetery so he can reassure himself Roderick is dead. To his horror, he finds the coffin empty. Shocked, Whitman hurries back to the carriage.
Once inside, he finds Maureen and Harry dead. It is revealed that his driver, Bully Boy, was killed by Roderick, who is now driving the coach. The film ends with Whitman screeching his driver’s name in terror as the coach heads for parts unknown.
Cast and characters:
Vincent Price … Lord Edward Whitman, Essy Persson … Lady Patricia Whitman, Hilary Dwyer … Maureen Whitman, Carl Rigg … Harry Whitman, Stephan Chase … Sean Whitman, Marshall Jones … Father Tom, Andrew McCulloch … Bully Boy, Michael Elphick … Burke, Pamela Moiseiwitsch … Maid, Joyce Mandre … Party Guest, Robert Hutton … Party Guest, Guy Deghy … Party Guest, Elizabeth Bergner … Oona, Patrick Mower … Roderick, Pamela Fairbrother … Margaret Donald, Quinn O’Hara … Maggie – Witch
Jane Deady … Naked Girl
Hugh Griffith … Mickey
Jan Rossini … Bess
Sally Geeson … Sarah
Godfrey James … Head Villager
Gertan Klauber … Tavern Keeper
Peter Benson … Brander
Richard Everett … Timothy
Louis Selwyn … Apprentice
Micky Baker … Rider
Carol Desmond … Girl
Ann Barrass … Elga
County of origin:
United Kingdom
Filming locations:
Grim’s Dyke House, Old Redding, Harrow Weald, Middlesex (also in The Blood Beast Terror; The Devil Rides Out; Curse of the Crimson Altar)
Offline reading:
Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures by Mark Thomas McGee, McFarland. Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes: The Mutant Melding of Two Volumes of Classic Interviews by Tom Weaver, McFarland
Related: Burn, Witch, Burn! Witchfinders in Horror Cinema – article
Film facts:
British punk-goths Siouxsie Sioux and Steven Severin named themselves Siouxsie and the Banshees in September 1976 after seeing the film on TV.
