If I am going by what movies say, people get up to no good in small villages in the United Kingdom and strangers are not welcome. When I watch movies like The Wicker Man, Straw Dogs, and now The Witches, I think a road trip through rural England is now out of the question unless, of course, I want to encounter a pagan cult or an overzealous lynch mob. I'm sure there are many movies out there that paint a much more romantic picture but for a genre fan, these are places to stay the hell away from. It seems like in places like this, there are a lot of secrets and the townspeople will band together against outsiders to protect their way of life. While watching this flick, I could not help but be reminded of The Wicker Man as both films are very good at depicting the isolation that someone would feel as they come to the realization that something is very wrong in the place that they are residing. Although I find The Wicker Man to be much more powerful, The Witches certainly delivers an unsettling atmosphere.

Joan Fontaine (in her final big movie role) stars as Gwen Mayfield, a woman who has a bad experience in Africa involving a soul-eating doll. After some time in a hospital, she decides to take another crack at life by accepting a position as a teacher at a small private school in rural England. Almost immediately, there is a strange vibe throughout the town and the characters that populate it. The housekeeper seems like she is in a drug-induced trance and there is talk that one of Gwen's students named Linda Rigg (Ingrid Boulting) is being abused at home. Gwen takes an interest in Linda and her budding romance with fellow student Ronnie. As her suspicions mount that something is not right in the town, Ronnie falls ill and a voodoo doll is found leading Gwen to become more paranoid. She is eventually institutionalized and later returns to the town to uncover the truth of what is going on and attempt to save Linda from being sacrificed by the resident coven of witches.

I can't say that I was super pumped to watch this one. Director Cyril Frankel has not done anything noteworthy to me and ageing actress Joan Fontaine did not seem like a good choice for a leading lady in a Hammer picture despite her impressive resume including classic films by Alfred Hitchcock and Ida Lupino. Still, I was taken by her impressively big hair and went with it. After an engaging (though slightly cheesy) prologue in Africa, the movie draws you in quite quickly and the mysteries of the town are set up in a way that kept me interested without giving too much away. The character of Linda Rigg is integral to the plot as she is a pretty yet somewhat aloof teenager that you know is an important element even if you are not entirely sure how.

The movie reaches its climax somewhat suddenly and although it feels like a bit of a cheap conclusion, it is saved by the performances of some of the coven members. These actors get really into it as they perform ritual dances that are very physical and require them to flail around making sudden spastic movements. They eventually begin slathering liquid all over each other making the scene even more bizarre and giving the audience something to talk about. Although the leader of the witches tends to overdo it a bit, her performance fits the sequence and provides a serviceable payoff to a fairly engaging mystery. While this film lacks the sexiness that many Hammer films are know for, it does show that the studio did not need to rely on this to make a decent movie. The Witches was written by Nigel Kneale who created the much loved Quartermass films and TV series. (Josh Pasnak, 3/9/16)

Directed By: Cyril Frankel.
Written By: Nigel Kneale.

Starring: Joan Fontaine, Kay Walsh, Alec McCowen, Ingrid Boulting.

aka: The Devil's Own.