In 1645, during the English Civil War, witch hunter Matthew Hopkins takes advantage of the breakdown in society to impose his own reign of terror.
Obviously, they filmed this in England, and Director Michael Reeves gets plenty of beautiful landscape shots. The use of bright, vibrant colors and natural lighting gives the entire film this almost angelic, dreamlikefeel, which is a good juxtaposition to all the brutal mob justice.
The story follows young soldier Richard and his conflict with Hopkins. He has a playful but laid-back “scallywag” charm that makes his character easy to like.
Hilary Dwyer plays Sarah, Richard’s love interest, and for her first role, she brings a lot of nuance to the character; she’s kind-hearted and a little naïve, but she can also be clever and quick on her feet, so she has layers… Like an onion or an ogre 😂
The obvious standoutof this movie is Vincent Price as Matthew Hopkins. Price plays the character with a stern, cold-hearted superiority and calm, ruthless charm that makes his character intimidating with how ruthless he can be. And is that really the good type of villain who you love to hate, and you just can’t wait to see someone punch him out 😂?
The director, Michael Reeves, was only 25 when he made this, and for such a young age, he had a real skill with the camera and multiple creative shots throughout. Unfortunately, he passed away shortly after this film; that stinks, but at least with this movie, he went out on a high note.
I thought the opening was quite interesting; they turned up the contrast really high so everything looks black and white with some dark blues. It kind of feels like Texas Chainsaw Massacre mixed with Seven, if that makes any sense.
The film does a very effective job at showing the brutality and inhuman nature of mob justice; the type of shady dudes will take advantage of that. I will say there are scenes of torture in the movie. But it’s a movie from the 60s, so the worst you’re going to see is a couple blood marks on people, so it’s nothing too unsettling.
I love the use of shadow in this movie—so heavy, German expressionism-inspired, and well contrasted. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tim Burton was inspired by this movie.
There is a cool castle church in this movie that looks pretty dope… I appreciate a good stone castle lol.
The costumes are very timely, accurate, and convincing; I especially like Hopkins’s little pilgrim cowboy hat—it’s a cool look.
Robert Russell as Hopkins's sleazyhenchman John Stearne is very memorable; he’s just so hairy and an old fish. He’s like King Arthur’s version of a biker.
The soundtrack is a very sweet and adventurous orchestra, but oddly fitting for the film in a unique way.
The ending is very unsettling, creative, and memorable; it's always nice to end on a high note. 👍
The Witchfinder General is more of a “historical horror film” than anything else, choosing a specific brutal time in history and using it to explore man’s darker nature in history. It’s more interesting than it is scary, but with performances and shots like this, it’s very easy to keep the viewer interested throughout. I give the film three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️.
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