The Witchfinder General

I've been spending a great deal of the month of September and October watching a great deal of classic horror films while I work on projects to celebrate Halloween this year. Most of my watching has consisted of movies from the Hammer Horror Series. But I've also been watching some of the Vincent Price films produced by American International Picture.

Yesterday it was The Witchfinder General. Which went under the title The Conqueror Worm in the United States to capitalize on Vincent Price's earlier Edgar Allan Poe movies.

American International Pictures had already made a name for themselves with B-Movie classics like The Amazing Colossal Man and Daddy-O. But they also put out some really fun (and sometimes completely bizarre) horror classics. And The Witchfinder General was one of those.

I don't know if you can really call this film a horror film per say. But I suppose you could call it a historical film with horrific elements. Nevertheless, it's a great film with Vincent Price once again giving a deliciously evil performance as the sadistically zealous Matthew Hopkins. An opportunist and witchhunter, takes advantage of the breakdown in social order to impose a reign of terror on East Anglia.

Price gives a fantastic performance which has a lot less campy overacting from many of his earlier films. Which I do like. And personally, I agree with Vincent Price's statement that he delivered "one of the best performances I’ve ever given." He gives a very level performance and by underplaying the characters villainy I think it just adds to the tension of the film and the remorselessness of the horrifying things Matthew Hopkins is doing throughout the film.

And it makes the character more believable than if he was going over the top as it were.

And I really liked the ending in the same way I liked the ending of Werner Herzog's remake of Nosferatu. But I won't ruin either for you if you would like to watch either films for the first time.

I would check this movie out as well as Vincent Price's earlier Poe film directed by Roger Corman. Even though the Poe films don't remain completely true to the original short stories, they remain true to feeling of the Edgar Allan Poe tales. Much in the same way Hammer did with their re-imagining of the Dracula and Frankenstein series.

And you can see how that approach influenced directors like Tim Burton with his films like Sleepy Hollow and more recently Alice in Wonderland.