Witchfinder General (1968 81min.) [BBC2 2.15am sunday]
Witchfinder General was one of the later Hammer horrors, but one of the first to break away from increasingly formulaic templates. The key differences here were the setting (English country villages) and the source of the horror. This is a film about the evil that can lurk within humans rather than a mythical monster.
Vincent Price plays Matthew Hopkins, the witchfinder of the title. This time he plays it straight. Hopkins is an unscrupulous, merciless man who persecutes people based upon forced confessions rather than evidence of witchcraft. He travels from town to town executing innocent women for financial profit and sexual favours. Indeed, there is no witchcraft in this film. Like The Wicker Man which came a few years later (and is also a must-see British horror film) it is about rituals, beliefs and abuse of power.
In the end it has not been remembered quite as fondly as The Wicker Man which is more iconic, but Witchfinder General delivers some shocking scenes of violence and abuse. It is one of the greatest British horror films. Sadly its director, Michael Reeves, died of an overdose of barbiturates the following year (aged only 25) so this proved to be his final film. Watching this film, one cannot help but wonder how his career would have progressed had he survived.
No comments:
Post a Comment