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| A gnawing, rot-colored and quite effective poster for Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General |
During the English Civil War in 1645 a notorious, self-appointed witchfinder and his willing assistant travels around to various hamlets and executes the unpopular wretches, who are thought to be witches.
Witchfinder General is written by Tom Baker (The Sorcerers (1967)) and co-writer/director Michael Reeves (She Beast (1966)), based on Ronald Bassett's (The Pompeians (1965)) same-titled 1966 book.
It is an exciting story of phony knights, based on the incredible true story of England's terrible witch mass murderer, Matthew Hopkins, who was responsible for sending around 100 people to their death as pronounced witches from 1644-46. Vincent Price (The Jackals (1967)) is terrific as the wholeheartedly evil title character.
The film is well done with stand-out qualities counted in blood and a horrific witch-burning scene. Regrettably not all the actors live up to Price's example, but Witchfinder General is still a good horror.
Watch a short clip from the film here
Cost: 83k £, approximately 199k $
Box office: Uncertain, but at least 1.5 mil. $ in North-American rentals
= Uncertain, but at least a huge hit (returned 7.53 times its cost in North-American rentals alone)
[Witchfinder General premiered 15 May (Los Angeles) and runs 86 minutes. Reeves had envisioned Donald Pleasance as the film's title star, but American International Pictures, the film's US co-producing company, insisted on their star Price being used, to Reeves' detriment. The British censorship organ the BBFC read and objected strongly to at least three scripts for the film before filming began. AIP contributed Price's 12k £ salary and 20k £ for the production and thought of the investment as a tax write-off with little chance of a quality outcome. Reeves and Price disliked each other intensely and clashed several times during filming. This took place in England from September - November 1967. Louis M. Heyward directed a nude scene in a pub, which was shot for the German release of the film. The film is not historically accurate. It passed through the BBFC with 'just' 2 minutes removed, partly because Reeves had a distant cousin as one of the censors. Many British critics were appalled at the film's violence. In North America the film was released uncensored, and AIP had Price narrate an Edgar Allan Poe poem for to bookend the film in order for them to market it as part of their Poe series of horror films, which is also were the curious conqueror worm title derives from. It was played on a double bill with The Young, the Evil and the Savage (1968). Reeves biographer Benjamin Halligan claims that the film grossed 10 mil. $ in the US, which would change its status to that of a mega-hit if true. The film was reportedly also a hit in Germany, where it inspired a local wave of folk-horror films. Reeves passed away months after the film's release at age 25, suffering from insomnia and depression, from an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose. Witchfinder General is his last film. Price returned with a voice performance in Spirits of the Dead (1968) and physically in More Dead than Alive (1969). Witchfinder General is fresh at 88 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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