Witchcraft (1964)

 

I was sure I had written about this, but I looked into the archive and couldn't locate a review for Witchcraft (1964), a minor but beautifully photographed witchcraft film from director Don Sharp about the conflict between two families, the Laniers and the Whitlocks. So the Laniers way way back buried a witch alive named Vanessa (Yvette Rees), reportedly because of the Whitlocks' land, not for religious purposes as they claimed. So that was the 17th Century. Carry that to 1964 with Bill Lanier (Jack Hedley) involved in a big project (a big sewer line will be set up through a long abandoned Whitlock cemetery) as Whitlock ancestors, led by Morgan (Lon Chaney, Jr., looking sadly haggard and ill), vow to get even for Bill's unscrupulous, greedy business partner (Barry Linehan) ordering a bulldozer into the Whitlock graveyard. 

So the bulldozing of the graveyard unearths a coffin with Vanessa in it. But she's not quite so dead. Her corpse, seemingly reanimated, seeks revenge on the Laniers still living. Meanwhile, the remaining Whitlocks prepare for Roodmas, the witches' sabbat. What I liked about the film is that Vanessa never talks. She doesn't have to. Her presence is so sinister in presentation, thanks to that atmospheric direction by Sharp, Vanessa can just approach Laniers when they sleep or from behind (or in the back of a car possessing a Lanier to drive her car off a cliff!) and never utter a word.

Chaney, Jr., according to Letterboxd folks, spends most of his time yelling at people. While that is actually true, to be honest, he seems perfect for this role of a broken old man at the end of his rope since the Laniers not only took their land long ago, now one of them is involved in a population expansion project flattening the ancestral cemetery. A bulldozer just wiping out tombstones and digging up graves is horrifying. Seeing coffins just drug up and left scattered with the earth is appalling. So the Whitlocks do have some sympathy...until they plan to sacrifice Bill's fiance (Jill Dixon) to the devil! Other Laniers targeted by Vanessa include Bill's mom (Viola Keats) and grandmother (Marie Ney). Vanessa not only emerges in Keats' bedroom ready to choke her while she sleeps, the witch is there in the car to possess her into wrecking the car. There is this great scene with Ney where she is in her wheelchair, looks up at her crucifix on the wall, does her prayer, and prepares for the witch...the witch gradually moves behind her, just holds open her hands, and Ney collapses down the stairs. You just see the witch taking them out one at a time. Another great scene has Bill at the airport trying to call a fallen grandmother who can't reach the phone due to being injured on the floor.

I think, though, the film is at its absolute best once the climax comes with the hooded cloaked Satanist Whitlocks gather for their Roodmas ceremony in this church, preparing to sacrifice the fiance when she follows Morgan's niece, Amy (Diane Clare, of "Plague of the Zombies" and "The Haunting"), who had left the Lanier mansion. The film includes a Romeo/Juliet romance with Amy of the Whitlocks and Todd (David Weston) of the Laniers in forbidden love. The Laniers aren't necessarily against Amy but they do consider her relationship with Todd cause for problems since Morgan hates the family.

This is a little barely 80 minute, moody B&W Gothic British horror film that is just long enough considering its story isn't particularly that deep or complex. I would recommend it for that first week of October, when you are looking for fresh titles that don't take up a lot of room on your schedule. 3.5/5