THE WITCHES (1966)
1966 was a pretty good year for Hammer (and their reused sets and actors) with Christopher Lee playing both Dracula and Rasputin, and a couple of adventures on the moors in The Reptile and Plague of the Zombies. The latter is probably their essential voodoo thriller, but what of this other tale of black magic and folk horror out in the English countryside? The distributor of an older Hammer movie collection used the music from this film for all their DVD menus so someone must have been a fan. But does it hold up or is it all just a bit too slow and frustrating?
The opening in Africa (where that same drum music is heard) shows missionary Gwen Mayfield (Joan Fontaine) trying to escape from some kind of local rebellion. Details of the location and the trouble are absent but when some kind of mystic totem is found her assistants panic and she's left alone. The giant mask used to portray a 'witch doctor' is fun in a ridiculous kind of way but no explicit details are given. Gwen simply faints and this scene is never explained properly. Perhaps it's a case of censorship and her ordeal is meant to be left to the imagination, or perhaps it's just the script being vague.
She's still suffering from anxiety on her return to England but gets a job as headteacher at the village of Heddaby. Again this location is never specified; some locals have South West accents and others don't. There is at least some intrigue from twitchy estate owner Alan Bax (Alec McCowan) who seems to be posing as the local vicar. He's soon shown to be acting the part for odd personal reasons; just one of several strange things going on in the area. The genre of 'weird people in remote places' is often interesting which makes for a good first act.
Everyone's pretty friendly but there's something off about most of them. Sinister Granny Rigg (Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies) talks to her cat and is the most obvious choice for a villain, and she was a member of Mocata's cult in The Devil Rides Out. But local butcher Bob (Duncan Lamont) is also a familiar Hammer face as he grins and sharpens his knives. Alan's sister Stephanie (Kay Walsh) seems the most friendly as she's well read and lives away from the villagers. But of course nothing is what it seems and even Leonard Rossiter as the out of town doctor seems suspicious.
The problem is that it's obvious what's going on from the start and Gwen never learns things fast enough. Mrs Rigg's granddaughter Linda and her boyfriend get sinister looks from the locals just for courting. Later there are strange injuries, unexplained illnesses, and mysterious deaths. But the pacing is all wrong and the obvious conclusions are dragged out. Instead of having regular incidents involving curses and spells it's pretty sparse and even the the Bax family mansion, a classic Hammer location, is barely used. By the time Gwen puts two and two together she's shipped off to a nursing home where things are even slower.
Which could be forgiven if the third act brought all this together. But the incident in Africa is never connected to the current situation, via imported mysticism or through Gwen's experience. Nothing she learned there helps her take action. Instead there's a ridiculous scene where the villains explain their whole plan and expect her to join them peacefully. Which of course she was never going to do and so they cause their own downfall. The cult members prancing around in the dirt for a Satanic ritual makes them look very stupid, but their all powerful leader giving up their secrets is the dumbest moment.
It could have been far more interesting of course, and it's odd that Nigel Kneale (the Quatermass series) didn't write something more convincing when this was based on an existing novel. It could have had something to say about the psychological state of Gwen; someone trying to move on from past trauma or trying to engage with the locals after being abroad for so long. It could have been about alienation and loneliness in rural areas, or the allure of the religious aspects of life there. Instead it's just too dull and too silly with a story that has antagonists making nonsensical choices.
2/5
