SECRET RITES / LEGEND OF THE WITCHES
In SECRET RITES, Alex Sanders tells us that the perceived notion of witches gatherings involving people running around in the nude is nonsense, then proceeds to show us a ‘true’ ritual, which involves people running around in the nude.
It’s a very colourful drama / documentary, in which a young woman is initiated into the cove, after answering a few questions in the local pub. It is quite entertaining though and is a real curio from the early 70s.
LEGEND OF THE WITCHES is a straightforward documentary style tale, involving witches rites, ghosts and other elements of the supernatural. I saw this one yonks ago in a pretty crappy version, but this edition is in crystal sharp black and white. There are also some fascinating time capsule short films on here too, rounding off another wonderful BFI Flipside release.
FRIGHT
Susan George stars as a babysitter in peril, in this early 70s thriller.
Watching this one again after all these years ( on this fabulous looking Blu Ray ) my gripes are the same. Namely Susan’s character seems to be in total panic at nothing as soon as she’s left alone, including a creaking door ( which she herself is closing! ), a dripping tap ( yikes! ) and running into some clothes on a line which she somehow doesn’t see. It’s almost like a parody at times.
However, it really kicks into gear with the arrival of the escaped lunatic, in a terrific performance from Ian Bannen, resulting in an excellent extended finale.
There are some nice interviews on here too, including the delightful Ms George, who mentions that her role here was pretty much a warm up for her gruelling performance in the following year’s STRAW DOGS.
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