Director Bert I. Gordon is best known for his B-movies that feature colossal creatures. Necromancy is another 'colossal' film... a colossal pile of hokey nonsense, but entertaining enough for those who like silly seventies Satanic horror.
Recovering from the loss of her stillborn child, Lori (Pamela Franklin) accompanies her husband Frank (Michael Ontkean) to the town of Lilith, where he has been offered a plum job working for toy manufacture Mr. Cato (Orson Welles). In reality, it is Lori that Cato, head of a coven of witches, is interested in, for she possesses the power to return his dead son to life.
There's so much wrong with Necromancy that it's hard to take seriously: the script is a slapdash mess of clichés, the direction and editing are clumsy, and the dialogue absolutely awful (so much exposition is delivered via conversation that it proves laughable). As the story lurches awkwardly from one scene to another, you will be left trying to answer many questions: Why does Lori pick up the ugly rag doll at the burning car wreck? Why does she keep seeing Cato's son if he is dead? Was Frank a witch all along? Why does Lori make a doll of herself and then stab it? What does 'born with a veil' mean? (Google answered that last one for me).
It's all very confusing at times, but somehow still engaging throughout. Franklin provides some brief topless nudity, as does ravishing redhead Sue Bernard (sadly, lovely Lee Purcell doesn't join in on the fun); Welles hams it up a treat as the mysterious town leader; there are some trippy visuals, especially in a strange scene where Franklin is fed a magic mushroom by Cato's dead son; and, best of all, we get one of those incredibly daft circular twist endings - you know the kind... it was all a dream, but one that is about to come true.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.
Recovering from the loss of her stillborn child, Lori (Pamela Franklin) accompanies her husband Frank (Michael Ontkean) to the town of Lilith, where he has been offered a plum job working for toy manufacture Mr. Cato (Orson Welles). In reality, it is Lori that Cato, head of a coven of witches, is interested in, for she possesses the power to return his dead son to life.
There's so much wrong with Necromancy that it's hard to take seriously: the script is a slapdash mess of clichés, the direction and editing are clumsy, and the dialogue absolutely awful (so much exposition is delivered via conversation that it proves laughable). As the story lurches awkwardly from one scene to another, you will be left trying to answer many questions: Why does Lori pick up the ugly rag doll at the burning car wreck? Why does she keep seeing Cato's son if he is dead? Was Frank a witch all along? Why does Lori make a doll of herself and then stab it? What does 'born with a veil' mean? (Google answered that last one for me).
It's all very confusing at times, but somehow still engaging throughout. Franklin provides some brief topless nudity, as does ravishing redhead Sue Bernard (sadly, lovely Lee Purcell doesn't join in on the fun); Welles hams it up a treat as the mysterious town leader; there are some trippy visuals, especially in a strange scene where Franklin is fed a magic mushroom by Cato's dead son; and, best of all, we get one of those incredibly daft circular twist endings - you know the kind... it was all a dream, but one that is about to come true.
5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.