Witchcraft (1964)

When her grave is disturbed by modern-day land developers, a 300-year-old witch is accidentally resurrected and terrorizes an English village.

Director:

Don Sharp

Writer:

Harry Spalding

Stars:

Lon Chaney Jr., Jack Hedley, Jill Dixon

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Morgan Whitlock (as Lon Chaney)
Jack Hedley	...	Bill Lanier
Jill Dixon	...	Tracy Lanier
Viola Keats	...	Helen Lanier
Marie Ney	...	Malvina Lanier
David Weston	...	Todd Lanier
Diane Clare	...	Amy Whitlock
Yvette Rees	...	Vanessa Whitlock
Barry Linehan	...	Myles Forrester
Victor Brooks	...	Inspector Baldwin
Marianne Stone	...	Forrester's Secretary
John Dunbar	...	Doctor
Hilda Fenemore	...	Nurse (as Hilda Fennemore)

Storyline

Since the 17th Century when the Lanier's buried a Whitlock woman alive as a witch and took over the Whitlock estate, the Whitlocks have hungered for revenge. Against the wishes of both families, Amy Whitlock and Bill Lanier are planning on getting married. The Laniers have sent bulldozers onto the old Whitlock Estate to level the land for a construction project. Morgan Whitlock and his daughter Amy make a futile effort to stop the bulldozers that overturn headstones and churn up graves in the Whitlock Cemetery. That night, an overturned coffin opens and Vanessa Whitlock, the witch buried centuries ago, rises from the grave. Together with Morgan, they use their supernatural powers and soon, one-by-one, the Laniers meet with fatal accidents. Tracy Lanier follows Amy into the family crypt and is astonished to see Vanessa and her witches in weird supernatural rites.

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Plot Keywords:

witch | bulldozer | coffin | cemetery | family crypt | 

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Taglines:

Hex Marks the Spot!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mavri mageia

Filming Locations:

Oakley Court, Windsor Road, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lippert Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The number of the credited cast is 13, the same number as the coven of witches.

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Goofs

Bill and Todd Lanier do not have a Devil Doll tied to their car when they are bewitched and almost go over the quarry cliff, even though the charm was necessary for sending Helen Lanier over the same cliff and was also needed to cause the death of Myles Forrester.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Morgan Whitlock: Stop that! This is blasphemy! Stop it! Go back! Go back, I say!

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Connections

Featured in Shiver & Shudder Show (2002)

User Reviews

"She's Crafty"

A 300 year long feud between a a coven of witches and a family of wealthy land developers comes to a head when an old cemetery plot is disturbed, unearthing the grave of a witch once buried alive. Morgan Whitlock, head of the coven , now has his means to take revenge on the usurpers of his land and sets the resurrected witch upon them.

A rarely seen and almost forgotten horror, Witchcraft is now available on the MGM / Fox "Midnight Movies" label, paired as a double feature with Devils of Darkness. The big draw for me is that it's one of the last legitimate horror films in the career of Lon Chaney Jr., so seeing it nearly pristine on DVD is a treat I never thought I might indulge in. To my surprise, Chaney's part wasn't quite as big as I hoped, but this is okay as the rest of the cast is made up of mostly British actors, and the Brits rarely disappoint in the realm of horror. Better still is that Hammer Film veteran Don Sharp is at the helm, who has given us Kiss of the Vampire, and Rasputin the Mad Monk, among other genre pictures. Handsomely shot in black and white, Witchcraft has all the atmosphere that both Gothic and 60's contemporary horror fans crave. The mute witch makes for an eerie apparition as she silently stalks her prey, I might liken the scenes of her on the prowl to scenes in A Drop of Water from Bava's masterful anthology.

While it's true that the plot is nothing new I do feel the film has style to burn. Modern viewers will likely doze off as it is bloodless and the pacing is a bit lethargic, however in many scenes this deliberate pacing works very well. 7/10