MovieChat Forums > Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General (1968) Discussion > Saw it for the first time yesterday...

Saw it for the first time yesterday...

posted 17 years ago by sofialoren
9 replies | jump to latest

Not many movies creep me out any more but that was truely scary! are there any other movies that are similar? I've seen the Wickerman, though that one came slightly later.

Thanks

[–] Spiny_Norman 17 years ago

Same here! I realy noticed the 'restored' grainy inserts though! (Just like in 'The wicker man').

"Everbody in the WORLD, is bent"

[–] a_heathen_conceivably 17 years ago

Apparently an uncut dupe negative of Witchfinder was sent to American International Pictures before the British Butchers of Film Cu/ts ordered scissors to be taken to the UK original (in an art gallery this is known as "vandalism", or commonly nowadays "criminal damage").

The perfect American neg was used for the French DVD ("Le Grand Inquisiteur" which does include the original English track and music) http://web12.dvd2web.de/witchfinder/witchfinder.htm and for the forthcoming MGM Region 1 US edition, with original British title and music! http://www.anchorbay.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=12206&highlight=witchfinder

"Oh look - a lovely spider!
'' ,, And it's eating a butterfly!"

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] Squonkamatic 17 years ago

There are two I would recommend: BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW by Piers Haggard, which was also made by Tigon Films which produced WITCHFINDER GENERAL. Has pretty much the same sort of atmosphere and setting, though it's an outright horror film with supernatural overtones. The other one that comes to mind immediately is Norman J. Warren's 1976 film SATAN'S SLAVE, which has a contemporary setting but is indeed one of the nastiest, most unrelentingly grim later period witchcraft films ever conceived with some totally over-the-top sequences of gore, torture and sex that might be a bit much.

Of lesser merit but along the same lines as WITCHFINDER GENERAL are Jess Franco's THE BLOODY JUDGE with Christopher Lee as a witchfinder-esque magistrate also torturing his way across the countryside. Franco also directed a film called LES DEMONS or SEX DEMONS which is a cross between the "nunsploitation" idiom and the witchfinder themes. Then there are always the MARK OF THE DEVIL films, two of them actually, which are genuine exploitation films that simply rip off WITCHFINDER's ideas and use them as excuses to part ladies from their clothing and tie them up to the rack before torching them.

More witchfinder fun can also be found in Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy's INQUISICION, which is about what it sounds like, and one of his werewolf films CURSE OF THE DEVIL which has an opening witchfinder sequence that's actually very chilling, though the rest of the film devolves into one of his typical sexy horror outings with nude women being lusted after by Naschy's traditional werewolf character.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] bromikeofm 17 years ago

I THINK I saw this movie many years ago... at a drive-in no less... is the opening scene a woman being dragged by some rope and then hung by the neck on a very high hill... if this is the movie, i remember it scared the HECK out me when I saw it long ago... is my memory correct or is old age setting in?

[–] a_heathen_conceivably 17 years ago

Yes, now go out and buy the new DVD! I think I must be somewhat younger than you, as I had heard of this film since late childhood around the early eighties (due to the British heavy metal band of the same name!), always wanted to see it, finally catching it in the cinema in the early 21st century double-billed with "The Crucible" (the manager's favourite movie of all time is "Theatre of Blood" and sometime later introduced that and "Witchfinder" in a Vincent Price double-bill!)

Needless to say "Witchfinder" was even better than I had imagined, and just gets better!

"Oh look - a lovely spider! And it's eating a butterfly!"
'' ,,

[–] ElectricWarlock 10 years ago

I saw this for the second time today and enjoyed it very much. I'm glad I wasn't alive during the witch hunts, but they're still interesting to watch from a distance and feel like you're in that place and time. Mark of the Devil and Haxan are similar.

Burn, witch! Burn, witch! Burn! Burn! Burn!