InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Portia Hilton Blistering performances.
Coventry I am definitely giving this movie another chance, IF it ever receives a proper DVD release complete with restored sound and polished up picture quality. I couldn't really enjoy my viewing of "The Witchmaker", but most likely that was due to the questionable quality of the VHS-rip rather than the actual movie. I found myself staring at a black screen most of the time, yet in between all the vagueness it was obvious that this movie is worthwhile enough to deserve a decent DVD edition. Unfortunately that still doesn't mean it's a great film. "The Witchmaker" is merely a hodgepodge of good conceptual ideas, outstanding locations & scenery, ominous atmospheres and genuinely spooky images, but sadly the script is massively incoherent and several of the plot's details aren't elaborated to the fullest. The main trump is undoubtedly the grisly swamp setting! I used to think the British countryside had a monopoly on forming the ideal setting for stories about witchcraft and devil-worshiping ("Blood on Satan's Claw" and "The Witchfinder General" are two prime examples), but that was before I saw the same story set in the Louisianan bayou region! The area looks as good as impenetrable and feels genuinely inescapable and isolated. At a certain point in the story, the remaining survivor characters desperately want to get out the swamp and who could blame them but it simply isn't possibly because their cabin is only reachable by boat and the boatman one passes by per week. Even in remote rural Britain they didn't have that problem! Several beautiful young girls have been murdered in the Bayou over the last few years, and the macabre modus operandi leads to suspect there's a coven witches active in the area. The corpses are hung upside down from a tree and there are eerie symbols painted on their naked bodies. The murders are indeed the work of a dude named Luther the Berserk, a master of Sabbath, who needs the women's blood for his occult rituals. Alvy Moore plays paranormal detective Ralph Hayes who travels to the area to research the murders. One of the expedition members tagging along is the indescribably beautiful Thordis Brandt and her character is the granddaughter of an actual witch! Hayes dragged her aboard because she's more sensitive to paranormal activity, but Luther also notices her talents and promptly sets up a plan to recruit her as his own witch. Okay, we have a splendid setting, a plot with the utmost potential AND a number of disturbing moments (I swear, the sights of those naked and smeared girls' bodies are positively unnerving), so what's the problem? I'm really not sure, but fact is that "The Witchmaker" doesn't quite live up to its own potential. The suspense building is too often undercut by seemingly endless psychologist conversations and occult gibberish. The film is just too talkative and, like another reviewer stated already, the characters drink way too much coffee, which is probably the reason why they keep talking and talking and talking! The first twenty minutes (up until Brandt's semi-topless run through the swamp) as well the finale are pure fascinating horror stuff, but it's difficult to stay focused throughout the tedious and uneventful middle section. Nonetheless, "The Witchmaker" is a very interesting American witchcraft/Satanist movie and honestly deserves to be slightly more known among genre fanatics.
carlos-giusti Been a huge fan of this flick for many moons....never get tired of old Luther chanting his praises for his almighty "Satan"..pretty ahead of it's time and very real when it comes to the berserker\witchcraft genre..Can't understand why this film is virtually unknown even to real horror buffs....Worth seeking out...Still no official DVD release of this little gem.....worth a remake....Satan....GIVE ME MY PURPOSE!!!!!..........and check out the cool Louisiana bayou atmosphere very creepy and foggy....Love Luther's digs.....Too bad most of the cast including the amazing John Lodge are all taking dirt naps..Would also like to know why the director William o. Brown fell off the face of the earth after this picture was made way back in 1969....
EyeAskance Alvy Moore leads a group of individuals into the deep swamplands to investigate paranormal activities. As luck would have it, this little neck of the bayou has been the locus of several ritual murders over the past couple of years, of which all the victims were pretty young girls. One of the crew of outsiders(the lovely and zaftig Thordis Brandt) is the descendant of a witch, and her presence piques the interest of an evil warlock determined to recruit her into his coven.Despite its financial strife, The Witchmaker is an atmospheric, smartly made production with an effective curveball ending, and I suspect it may be a bit more lettered in illustrating the various wonts of occultism than many other films of its type. Surprisingly scary at points, and benefiting from a creepy score by Jaime Mendoza-Nava, this one's worth seeking out(if only for the scene of Ms. Brandt running slow-motion and topless through the swamp, cupping her hands over her gigantic bare breasts).7/10
silentgpaleo All right.So, there is some satanic rituals going on in the bayou. Alvy Moore(from GREEN ACRES, and also one of this film's producers) and his group are investigating into this Deep South hell, and its RACE WITH THE DEVIL time.I have a somewhat trimmed version of this film, but despite this, I enjoyed WITCHMAKER emmensly. It has blood, nudity, and some pretty intense scenes. In a sense, it is what all drive-in films should be, entertaining.
I'll be getting the DVD version, once they put it out. And I definitely won't be buying that wimpy BLAIR WITCH flick. WITCHMAKER is the real deal.
