Witchfinder General (1968)

"I will find out the truth for you, have no fear.", 30 October 2007

With civil war raging across England, a man like Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) finds it easy to take advantage of the situation for his own personal gain. He plays on the fears, superstitions, and jealousies of the locals as they take turns accusing each other of being witches. And if they don't confess, Hopkins gives them to his sadistic enforcer, John Steame (Robert Russell), to beat it out of them. When Hopkins sets his sights on a priest named John Lowes (Rupert Davies) and his niece (Hilary Heath), he unwittingly seals his fate. The girl's fiancé, Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy), will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

Vincent Price gave many nice performances during his career, but his portrayal of Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General may have been his finest. Price's Hopkins is a very interesting, multi-layered character. While he has absolutely no qualms about unnecessarily punishing and torturing people, he doesn't do the dirty work himself. (I love the bit where he has the suspected witches thrown into the river with their hands and feet bound. If they float, it must be the devil protecting them. They will be taken from the water and burned. If they sink and die, oh well, sorry – they must have been innocent. It's certainly a callous view of life that was so wonderfully lampooned in Monty Python and the Holy Grail). Hopkins doesn't care about rooting out evil. His objective is the silver he receives when it's all over. He is a cowardly man, selling out those closest to him to save his own skin. And he is quite at ease with granting favors and requests in exchange for sex. One has to wonder if Matthew Hopkins ever believed in God and Satan and witchcraft. Or, as I suspect, did he see it all as an opportunity to line his pockets. Price brings all this to the role. It's an outstanding performance of a multi-faceted character. As I said, it might just be Price's best.

The supporting cast is just as good. Russell, Heath, Ogilvy, and Davis are all magnificent. I was especially impressed with Russell. It's easy to forget you're watching an actor and start to believe you're watching a man who enjoys torturing people. The beating he gives Davies is particular nasty. It would be difficult to play a sadistic bastard any better than Russell does in Witchfinder General.

It's a real shame the Michael Reeves didn't live longer than he did. After watching Witchfinder General last night, I read the Reeves would have helmed The Oblong Box as his next project. Man, would that have been interesting! Reeves brought the necessary realism to Witchfinder General. His film has atmosphere and is rough and brutal. The locations are obviously authentic and the set are appropriately sparse. And the film has a gritty look appropriate for the time period. Slick looking digital effects like we see today just wouldn't work in a movie like this. It's obvious that he was working with a very small budget, yet I cannot imagine the film looking much better (well, the blood might not have been such a bright coral color) had he had three time the money.

My only real complaint with the movie is with the main female character, Sarah Lowes. I realize that she faces unspeakable torture at the hands of Matthew Hopkins' cronies, but she bends to his will just a bit too easily. She seems more anxious than Hopkins to jump into the sack if it means saving her own skin. I would have liked to have seen her at least make an attempt to stay true to her fiancé. It just didn't fit what I would have expected from the character.

Overall, Witchfinder General is a real classic of the horror genre. Any self-respecting fan owes it to himself to check it out. I'm so happy to finally have this on DVD. It's one I'll revisit time after time for years to come.

8/10