Witchcraft (1964)
When her grave is disturbed by land developers, a 300-year-old witch is accidentally resurrected and terrorizes the descendants of those who destroyed her coven and buried her alive.
Starring the great Lon Chaney Jr as modern day warlock Morgan Whitlock and Colditz star Jack Hedley as the head of the development company, the film has a lot of potential, however a less than legendary performance from Chaney, who director Don Sharp says could only film in a morning due to his daily consumption of a bottle or two of vodka whilst filming, means it's all a bit of a minor piece when it could have been so much better.
There are some delicious bits of wicked witchery involving voodoo dolls, runes and black robed occult practices which add a lot of atmosphere to proceedings even giving the idea that it could play as a sister film to 1960's City of the Dead. Yvette Rees who plays the resurrected witch, Vanessa Whitlock, gives a memorable if wordless performance, her icy presence giving her scenes a lovely tinge of Gothic horror especially when appearing in the bedroom of Hedley's daughter. The film has a couple of terrific set pieces including a couple of possessed or spellbound car journeys that result in tragedy, and is overall a very enjoyable watch.
One of those films i always return to.
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