Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

gilligan1965 Immediately, this movie reminded me of "The Wicker Man" in the sense it's about witches seeking a sacrifice for sicko reasons. However, the villagers in this movie are much creepier and more slave-like. Then, when you add religion (Black Magic) to the mix, they're obedient in a zombie-like way making them outright dangerous and psychotic.To me, nothing creeps me out more than crazy people who hurt and/or kill others for nutso and/or religious reasons...i.e. - "Rosemary's Baby;" "Bates Motel;" "Psycho;" "Wrong Turn;" "Seven;" "Friday The 13th;" "Halloween;" "Race With The Devil;" "The Wicker Man;" etc...and, of course, this movie.Then, to add 'funny' insult to injury...the lead witch wears a Scandinavian Saint Lucia-like headdress with burning candles (I'm part Swedish). I know that this was also a Germanic Pagan pre-Christian midwinter practice, but, it's still demented for the purpose that the characters in this movie use this for.This is a good movie with many Pagan rituals, and, although non-gory in its presentation, the murderous drone-like trances that the coven is in while they do their deeds is mockingly drug-induced and pathetic. The orgiastic witches' circle near the end of the movie is disturbing, too, but, all-too-real within cults and the subgroups of weirdo religious sects throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and, maybe even now (read about The Moonies and Jamestown, among others).Check it out. Not a bad movie, just a lot insane.

TheLittleSongbird The Witches is a very watchable film, but also an uneven one, Hammer have done some very good to great films but this is not one of them. It's one of those cases where the first half, which was reasonably strong despite a few problems, fares far more strongly than the second half, which was incredibly problematic and awful at its worst.Visually, The Witches, as with most Hammer efforts, looks great. The scenery and sets are both beautiful and eerie, it's stylishly shot and the lighting helps give off an effectively creepy atmosphere. The music is resolutely haunting and has a thrilling intensity while also having the ability of being intimate when it calls for it.The script does lack horror and mystery, but flow-wise and structurally it flows well and is decently written, and while the film is reasonably tame by today's standards the atmosphere still has a creepiness and the first half interests and entertains mostly. The direction is very competent in the first half and shows great technical assurance but falls flat in the last thirty minutes. The cast are very good and are the best thing about the film aside from the visuals. Joan Fontaine has been better, but the vulnerability of her character is very deeply felt, Alex McCowan has a lot of fun with his role while Kay Walsh's excellent performance steals the film.As said, the first half is reasonably strong. It does have its flaws, it does move too slowly in places and the prologue was rather vague and somewhat irrelevant. It's always professionally made and well-acted on the whole, and is intriguing and entertaining, with a great creepy atmosphere and some decent suspense.However, the second half really disappoints. It gets really tedious, gets increasingly confused, suspense, mystery and horror are non-existent and it dissolves into camp, which I don't think was intended. The film's biggest flaw is the climax, which has to be the worst ever ending for a Hammer film with its inept choreography, even worse dancing and it was just too amateurish to even be considered unintentionally funny.Overall, good first half, but very bad second half. An uneven film, with a lot of strengths and some big flaws. 6/10 Bethany Cox

JLRMovieReviews Joan Fontaine, in her last theatrical film, stars as a teacher who has been on a sabbatical because on her previous job, she was traumatized by natives in some remote village who were practicing voodoo and witchcraft. To move forward and away from such things, she takes a new post working for Kay Walsh and her minister-brother. But he's no longer a man of the cloth. That's very mysterious. In fact, just when Joan was trying to not find trouble, it finds her. A young boy and girl in love are told to stay away from each other and its dramatic turn leads to turmoil for Joan. What started out as a somewhat interesting and promising little film seems to go awry with out-of-control antics. On the whole, I'm not much of a horror buff, but I do like the early black-and-white ones of the genre, like The Haunting, etc., where less is more. (In fact, I was only watching this because it was a Joan Fontaine film.) And, while it would have stayed on my to-watch list until I watched it, I still feel like it was essentially a waste of time, considering the disappointing and silly resolution. If you're a Joan Fontaine fan, this is one film that doesn't fit in with her usual roster of good films and could definitely be missed. Period.

phillindholm One of legendary production company Hammer Films lesser known titles, ''The Witches'' was Golden Age Star Joan Fontaine's last theatrical film. She herself bought the rights to Norah Loft's ''The Devil's Own'' and brought it to Hammer, casting herself in the leading role of schoolteacher Gwen Mayfield. Ms. Mayfield is still recovering from a traumatic experience in Africa, where, while teaching , she became the target of the local Witch Doctor. Shortly after her subsequent breakdown, she accepts another teaching position in a small English village. At first, the placid atmosphere and friendly local folk seemingly aid her attempts to overcome the past. However, it's not long before she begins to sense that all is not what it appears. Fontaine, still lovely at 49, gives an incisive performance as the victimized teacher, who isn't sure at first whether or not she is imagining the disturbing events which surround her. The hand picked supporting cast, which includes such familiar faces as Leonard Rossiter (''Reginald Perrin'') Michele Dotrice, Shelagh Fraser ('Star Wars'') and, making her debut, as the target of ''The Witches'', Ingrid Boulting, here billed as Ingrid Brett. Despite excellent performances by all, the film is stolen by film veteran Kay Walsh (Oliver Twist) former wife of director David Lean, who plays free lance writer Stephanie Bax to perfection. Distinguished stage actor Alec McCowen appears as her rather ineffectual brother. Director Cyril Frankel moves things along at a leisurely pace, abetted by some splendid photography and a suitably eerie score by Richard Rodney Bennett. Alas, though the suspense is carefully cultivated from the beginning, things begin to get shaky at mid-point, when Mayfield lands in a nursing home, with her memory of the recent past gone. After a fairly lengthy stay, it's eventually restored. From here, she escapes just in time to join a frenzied climax in which the activities of the local Coven resemble an Aerobics workout at a Rescue Mission, rather than a Black Mass. Nevertheless, the wrap up is a satisfying one, and audiences who go for this sort of thing will not feel cheated. When ''The Witches'' was released in England in late 1966, it garnered some fine reviews, but little box office. For it's American debut (in early 1967) the title was changed to ''The Devil's Own'' in order to avoid confusion with an Italian film, ''The Witches'' (starring Clint Eastwood) which appeared around the same time. Unfortunately, ''The Devil's own'' ended up on the bottom half of a double bill with Hammer's abysmal ''Slave Girls'' (here dubbed ''Prehistoric Women''). and, again, it came and went quickly, much to the chagrin of Co-Produce Fontaine. Today, however, the film retains it's ability to intrigue the viewer, and thanks to it's fine cast, it remains one of Hammer's most underrated efforts.