A Witchy Double Feature

Is there any figure more commonly associated with the Halloween season than the good ol’ witch? I think not. Or perhaps I should more properly say, “the wicked ol’ witch,” as not many witches that we tend to encounter during the Shocktober season are of the Samantha Stevens variety, to put it mildly! Below, thus, you will find a pair of films dealing with witches of the nastier ilk; a pair of films that might make for a perfect double feature one dark and stormy October night…

WOMAN WHO CAME BACK (1945)

In the little-seen 1945 chiller Woman Who Came Back (not, strangely and irritatingly enough, THE Woman Who Came Back), we meet a very disturbed young lady, Lorna Webster (played by Nancy Kelly, perhaps known to most viewers for her role in 1956’s The Bad Seed, and here looking very much like Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce). Returning to her hometown of Eben Rock, Massachusetts (a stand-in for Salem, I suppose) for the first time in years, she meets an evil-looking old crone on the bus, who claims to be Jezebel Trister, a supposed witch who had been burnt at the stake by Lorna’s ancestor 300 years before. Following a series of increasingly suspicious incidents involving a bus crash, some dead flowers, rat poison, a burning book, a canine “familiar” and a sickened young girl, Lorna comes to believe that she has been possessed by the old witch … and so does the rest of the town. But has she really? This short film (it all transpires in only 68 minutes) has been directed by Walter Colmes (I know, I know … who?) in a pleasing, atmospheric manner. It is occasionally creepy and brooding, but sadly dissipates a terrific setup with a forced and mundane explanation for all the frissons that had come before. Still, the picture serves as a nice object lesson on the perils of superstition and paranoia. Had it been made just five years later, it would have been read as a biting commentary on McCarthyism, and the modern-day witch hunt that the Wisconsin senator would then be initiating. As it is, the film comes off like an ominous predictor of America’s future. Kudos to the wonderful character actor Otto Kruger, here playing a levelheaded reverend, as well as to John Loder, in his role as Lorna’s increasingly frustrated doctor fiancé. In all, this is a pleasing little film that will certainly disappoint many, but one that still offers up an important message. And it appears just fine, too, on the crisp-looking Image DVD that I recently experienced it on.

WITCHCRAFT (1964)

Witchcraft is a comparatively obscure British horror film from 1964 that may be getting some well-deserved latter-day fans, thanks to recent screenings on TCM. This modest but well-done offering from Shepperton Studios almost plays out like a Hatfield & McCoys family feud, but with decidedly supernatural overtones. It seems that modern land development in an area outside London has desecrated the burial plot of the Whitlocks, and before long, Vanessa Whitlock, who was buried alive in the 17th century for witchcraft, is up-and-at-’em to take vengeance on her ancestral enemies, the Laniers. Jack Hedley is quite sturdy in his role as Bill Lanier, the modern-day land developer, and, in a NONembarrassing performance, Lon Chaney, Jr. is also quite fine as Morgan Whitlock, a coven leader. Best of all, perhaps, is Yvette Rees as Vanessa. With not a single line of dialogue, she manages to convey implacable evil very effectively, and her every appearance is a frightening one; my beloved Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film is quite correct in describing her as being “in the Barbara Steele tradition.” Director Don Sharp, whose work on the 1963 Hammer film Kiss of the Vampire had recently impressed me, here turns in another solid effort, and the film’s B&W photography is quite lovely to behold. The picture ends most satisfactorily, I feel, and on a nicely UNsentimental note, with Grandmother Lanier’s pronouncement “Born in evil, death in burning” a perfect summation of affairs. Though perhaps not quite as sterling as an earlier British witches-and-devil film, Horror Hotel (1960), Witchcraft yet reveals itself to be a compact and pleasing affair that does leave a residual chill. Unlike Vanessa, this is one relic whose unearthing should be welcomed…

Anyway, folks, I sincerely hope that you all get to experience these fun witchy movies sometime during this Halloween season. I will leave you now with the following groaner: What happens when a witch breaks the sound barrier? You hear a sonic broom!

I’ll let myself out now…