Witchfinder General

Witchfinder General (1968), aka. The Conqueror Worm, starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Rupert Davies

Description of Witchfinder General

In Witchfinder General, a 17th-century British witch hunter during the time of Cromwell’s reign travels the English countryside.  Doing his dirty work for the strict purpose of lining his pockets. Completely taking advantage of the civil strife, he terrorizes people and bends them to his will. He forces confessions from “witches” until a military officer risks treason to seek revenge against him.

Review

Witchfinder General, aka. The Conqueror Worm is loosely based on history.  There actually was a man named Matthew Hopkins. And he falsely accused hundreds of being witches.  And had them murdered.  Here, Vincent Price portrays him, in one of his best performances.  Price is known for portraying the tragic monster. Someone forced, by circumstances or fate, to do evil things.  Not so here.  There is nothing remotely sympathetic about the evil, corrupt Hopkins.  And Vincent Price plays him as a totally evil, self-serving man.  It’s very well done.

Unlike the historical account, here Hopkins is opposed by a young military man. The man’s determined to rescue — and avenge — his beloved.  It likely makes for a better movie, but I prefer the historical version.  In reality, the peasants had enough. They accuse Hopkins of being a warlock. And burn him at the stake.

Witchfinder General is an excellent film, with excellent performances all around. I recommend it for adult audiences.

Cast of characters

• Vincent Price (House on Haunted Hill) … Matthew Hopkins
• Ian Ogilvy (From Beyond the Grave) … Richard Marshall
• Rupert Davies (Quartermass II) … John Lowes
• Hilary Heath (The Oblong Box) … Sara
• Robert Russell … John Stearne
• Nicky Henson … Trooper Swallow
• Tony Selby … Salter

Editorial review of Witchfinder General courtesy of  Amazon.com

By consensus, Vincent Price’s finest performance among his gallery of horror-movie rogues comes in Witchfinder General, the intense 1968 film that erased any hint of camp from the actor’s persona. Price plays Matthew Hopkins, a sadistic 17th-century “witchfinder” who uses barbaric methods to identify (and invariably execute) supposed witches. Along with Price’s disciplined work, Witchfinder is also the best film by the talented and ill-fated director Michael Reeves, who was only 24 when he shot the movie. Blessed with a great feeling for English landscapes and an eye for blackly telling details (peasants roasting potatoes in the ashes of a burned witch), Reeves was clearly a promising filmmaker, who died in 1969 from a drug overdose.

The most vivid thing about Witchfinder General is the way it explicitly links paranoia and witch-hunting to misogyny, and how female sexual energy is seen by the ruling order as a threat. The final sequence is perhaps the most harrowing fade-out of any Sixties horror picture, and offers no comforting resolution.

Included on the Witchfinder package is a disc of three featurettes: a half-hour bio, the 12 minute Art of Fear that looks at his horror work (with the expected focus on the other films in this box set), and a 15 minute piece on other actors working with Price (although these actors are not interviewed, just the gallery of experts who speak in the other docs). TheWitchfinder disc includes a valuable backgrounder on the movie, including the story behind the original U.S. release of the film, titled The Conqueror Worm (to cash in on Price’s connection to Edgar Allan Poe works, which this is not), plus a commentary with producer Philip Waddilove and Michael Reeves’ favored leading man, Ian Ogilvy. –Robert Horton