Witchfinder General (1968)
Country: GB
Technical: col 87m
Director: Michael Reeves
Cast: Patrick Wymark, Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy
Synopsis:
During the English Civil War in East Anglia, a parliamentary trooper swears vengeance on the witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins, who has exploited the power vacuum for his own sadistic gratification.
Review:
With the exception of the scene in which the soldier makes love with the priest's niece under his roof, this is an admirably realistic and cohesive work, indeed full of true horror. Visually it has style and skill, though it is grainier than Hammer and somewhat coarse in its acting. The Vaughan Williams-style score jars, too, as do the distances Ogilvy covers on his mount across East Anglia and back (the film was shot on location). Nevertheless, Reeves succeeds in evoking the peculiarly perverse logic employed by witch hunters, along with their unspeakable methods (the violence has not dated). At the same time, he ignited the debate on whether screen violence is justified, even to illustrate how desensitised viewers can be made by it - a number of scenes have onlookers 'consuming' the torture meted out to the hapless victims, and the lovers are demented by their experience.
Country: GB
Technical: col 87m
Director: Michael Reeves
Cast: Patrick Wymark, Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy
Synopsis:
During the English Civil War in East Anglia, a parliamentary trooper swears vengeance on the witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins, who has exploited the power vacuum for his own sadistic gratification.
Review:
With the exception of the scene in which the soldier makes love with the priest's niece under his roof, this is an admirably realistic and cohesive work, indeed full of true horror. Visually it has style and skill, though it is grainier than Hammer and somewhat coarse in its acting. The Vaughan Williams-style score jars, too, as do the distances Ogilvy covers on his mount across East Anglia and back (the film was shot on location). Nevertheless, Reeves succeeds in evoking the peculiarly perverse logic employed by witch hunters, along with their unspeakable methods (the violence has not dated). At the same time, he ignited the debate on whether screen violence is justified, even to illustrate how desensitised viewers can be made by it - a number of scenes have onlookers 'consuming' the torture meted out to the hapless victims, and the lovers are demented by their experience.
Country: GB
Technical: col 87m
Director: Michael Reeves
Cast: Patrick Wymark, Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy
Synopsis:
During the English Civil War in East Anglia, a parliamentary trooper swears vengeance on the witchfinder, Matthew Hopkins, who has exploited the power vacuum for his own sadistic gratification.
Review:
With the exception of the scene in which the soldier makes love with the priest's niece under his roof, this is an admirably realistic and cohesive work, indeed full of true horror. Visually it has style and skill, though it is grainier than Hammer and somewhat coarse in its acting. The Vaughan Williams-style score jars, too, as do the distances Ogilvy covers on his mount across East Anglia and back (the film was shot on location). Nevertheless, Reeves succeeds in evoking the peculiarly perverse logic employed by witch hunters, along with their unspeakable methods (the violence has not dated). At the same time, he ignited the debate on whether screen violence is justified, even to illustrate how desensitised viewers can be made by it - a number of scenes have onlookers 'consuming' the torture meted out to the hapless victims, and the lovers are demented by their experience.