A STRANGER IN A TOWN THAT HAS LOST ITS MIND... IF SHE'S NOT CAREFUL, SHE MAY LOSE HERS TOO!
Director: Cyril Frankel
Writer: Nigel Kneale
Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Following a nervous breakdown, Gwen takes up the job of head teacher in the small village of Haddaby. There she can benefit from the tranquillity and peace, enabling her to recover fully. But under the facade of idyllic country life she slowly unearths the frightening reality of village life in which the inhabitants are followers of a menacing satanic cult with the power to inflict indiscriminate evil and death if crossed.
89 min
Rating: 6.1/10
Released
Watch Trailer
Top Cast
Joan Fontaine
Gwen Mayfield
Kay Walsh
Stephanie Bax
Alec McCowen
Alan Bax
Ann Bell
Sally Benson
Ingrid Boulting
Linda Rigg
John Collin
Dowsett
Movie Info
Director: Cyril Frankel
Writer: Nigel Kneale
Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Companies: Hammer Film Productions
Countries: United Kingdom
Similar Movies
Echo Torch
2016-10-21
House of 1000 Corpses
2003-04-11
The Blair Witch Project
1999-07-14
Ring
1998-01-31
Spookiz: The Movie
2020-08-16
Natsume's Book of Friends: The Waking Rock and the Strange Visitor
2021-01-16
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
1998-05-19
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
1992-06-03
The White Goddess
2022-03-02
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
1994-05-31
The Changeover
2017-09-28
Asylum of Darkness
2012-11-07
The Blacklight
2021-04-24
Dawn of the Dead
1978-09-02
Don't Look Now
1973-10-11
Heat
1995-12-15
Paths of Glory
1957-10-25
Eraserhead
1977-09-28
The Man Who Fell to Earth
1976-03-18
Straw Dogs
1971-11-25User Reviews
What Others Said
Wuchak:
_**Pastoral drama/mystery starts and ends with witchy horror**_
A schoolteacher who had been traumatized by witchdoctors as a missionary in Africa (Joan Fontaine) gets a gig at a remote English village where she starts to suspect witchcraft being practiced. Kay Walsh plays the educated matriarch of the town.
“The Witches” (1966), also known as “The Devil’s Own,” is obscure Hammer Horror that obviously influenced the cult flick “The Wicker Man” (1973). It’s mostly a slow rural drama/mystery that opens and closes with overt witcheries.
Speaking of which, people complain about the “awful” and “laughable” conclusion, but it was innovative and no doubt shocking in 1965 when it was shot. Whilst cinema flirted with Satanism & witchcraft in the early 60s with "The City of the Dead," "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Devils of Darkness," this one went one step further by depicting a devilish ceremony more explicitly, which strikes some modern viewers as cheesy and amusing.
Sure, today it’s about as scary (and choreographed) as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video (1983), but the mundane story definitely needed something outlandish and outrageous by that point. It paved the way for the popular flicks "The Devil Rides Out" and "Rosemary's Baby,” both released two years later.
Blonde Ingrid Boulting stands out on the female front as Linda. Meanwhile you might remember striking Michele Dotrice (Valerie) from “The Blood on Satan's Claw” (1971).
The film runs about 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Hambleden, England, which is a half-hour drive due west of London, with studio stuff done at nearby Bray Studios.
GRADE: B-