Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

just watch it!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Aged fifteen, I first watched this film on late-night television in the autumn of 1970 and, like several other reviewers, found it both entertaining and frightening, especially with regard to Vanessa Whitlock's two appearances in the Lanier house! Having seen the film only once or twice since, I recently acquired the DVD and, in common with the majority of the film's previous reviewers, was very pleased to see how well the production stands up more than fifty years after first being released. Several of your previous reviewers have recorded succinct and lucid synopses of the plot of 'Witchcraft', and my purpose in adding this review is to point out a small way in which I feel the production could be improved. 'Witchcraft' depicts, a little clumsily to my mind, THREE generations of Laniers and I feel that, in the interests of taut and precise characterisation and plotting, these could profitably have been reduced to TWO. Given the ages of the actors and actresses involved, Malvina Lanier could quite easily have become Bill's and Todd's MOTHER rather than grandmother and Helen Lanier could almost as easily have become an older, unmarried sister to the two sons. Such an adjustment of relationships would also, I feel, have given more dramatic impact to the stated suicide of Bill's and Todd's father, as such a device could logically and sequentially have been employed as the reason for the reclusiveness of Malvina Lanier. As the film stands, Helen's father and Bill's and Todd's mother are somewhat airbrushed out of the proceedings. However, 'Witchcraft' remains a film that I would thoroughly recommend.

This is a solid horror film directed by Don Sharp, who directed some of Hammer's less spectacular projects in the mid-sixties. It is probably best known now because of the involvement of top-billed Lon Chaney as the monumental Morgan Whitlock, who delivers a big performance for his big character. Often one-note furious, Chaney casts a large shadow over his more mannered co-stars – it is unusual to see him surrounded by British faces (including 'Plague of the Zombies's Diane Clare), in the same way that seeing Boris Karloff on screen with Christopher Lee in 'Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)' is a slightly surreal experience. Horror stars from different eras meeting has a charm all its own, and Chaney's presence in picturesque, misty country scenes are pleasingly odd.At this stage in his career, Chaney had a reputation for causing problems due to his excessive drinking. Apparently Sharp was very sympathetic to this and coaxed the best performance as he could from the veteran actor. Apart from addressing the character of Todd as (his girlfriend) Amy, Chaney is very good in a larger-than-life way.My other favourite performance would have to be that of Vanessa Whitlock (Yvette Rees), the resurrected witch. She is creepily effective in all her scenes, particularly her first, when her appearance is slowly revealed as she is unearthed. Up until that point, this is quite a straight-laced film (in which Chaney's performance stands out as being unrestrained) seemingly un-influenced by the blood-spattered horror revolution caused by Hammer in the late 1950's. As events continue, however, things become progressively more manic folding with a spectacular finale.

Accidentally removing a tombstone during a cemetery renovation, a buried-alive witch returns from the grave to continue enacting a curse held on two rival families in modern-day England and forces them to stop its ties with one to end the rampage.Frankly, this was quite enjoyable and certainly a worthwhile British Gothic horror effort. One of its many enjoyable aspects is the rather enjoyable atmosphere created here from what was simply a low-budget effort that certainly has a lot going for it with its use of the graveyard, fog-shrouded buildings, Satanic rituals and meetings and the involvement of a long-held curse all laid out in a modern setting. There's all the familiar trappings to be found here from this one employing that Gothic atmosphere and style here against the civilized world as the whole effort takes place in a type of modernized London on the outskirts of the city with a lot of more modern conveniences than the period-set efforts at the same time which also comes into play here quite nicely alongside that old-school atmosphere. The option of featuring attacks in the car while driving down supposedly-open roads only to learn of supernaturally-influenced ideas against them or using a rotary chair-lift in another sequence makes for some ingenious suspense scenes but also works the two together quite well so it's a lot more comfortable with each other than it really should've been and helps to move this along at quite a hurried pace that it continues along without the chance of really getting boring or overlong. That helps as well with the finale which is the frenzied final battle with the witch while the traditional house-burns-up scenario so often found here that packs a lot of action into the space and again melds the old-school atmosphere with the more modern setting to get a lot out of this one. It's enough to overcome the minor flaw within this one, which is the haphazard way the finale works out here with this one taking a lot of extra time to get to a point it could've accomplished much faster as the editing doesn't really do this one a lot of favors doing it the way it is. There's enough to get the gist of this scene but it doesn't really get there the way it should and that's quite obvious. The low-budget during many of the scenes here is also quite apparent in the lame stunts and obvious doubles during many scenes that really hampers this one somewhat enough to keep it from a true classic.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

Until I caught this on DVD tonight I'd never seen Witchcraft, and that's despite being a horror film fan for virtually all my life. This is one that hardly ever gets shown in the UK, which is a shame, as it's a darn sight better than some of the stuff that turns up on late night t.v.The story is basically a simple one concerning two feuding families,The Laniers and The Whitlocks, the former having disposed of their enemies in the 1600s by branding their foes as witches, thereby ensuring that at least one of them is buried alive. Not a good idea to allow the tombstone to be disturbed for land development, then! For you see, witches they really are...As some other reviewers have pointed out, there's a playful borrowing of Romeo and Juliet here, as the youngsters from each side fall in love. This is something that gives some poignancy to the end of the film, as you can guess that things are not going to turn out right. Perhaps the film it most resembles is the slightly better City Of The Dead. Where Christopher Lee aided the resurrected sorceress in that movie here it's Lon Chaney Jr. It's nice to see him in a British horror and also rather sad. The years had not been kind to him since his heyday in the early forties. Alcohol problems had taken their toll, but Chaney is good value for his screen time, and you are constantly waiting for his character to re-appear.Jack Hedley is the standard British hero type (is this the only horror film with a town planner as the hero?) Diane Clare from Plague Of The Zombies plays one of the young lovers, and Yvette Rees is splendid (without a single line of dialogue) as the resurrected witch.The film is ably directed by Don Sharp (Kiss of the Vampire) and has excellent moody lighting. Yep, that is Hammer Films' Oakley Court standing in as one of the family mansions, and the real power of the film is its contrast between the ancient and the modern - the opening shot pans from a busy road full of cars to an old, decrepit cemetery. A point that's reinforced throughout. The film's set pieces are rather underwhelming, unfortunately, including a pretty lame car crash off a cliff. But in all this is well worth a look; plenty of style, slightly lacking in conviction.