Saturday, February 21, 2009

The Witches (1966)

Been watching Hammer's Witches about a month or so ago and ever since then had every intention to do a little write up, but everytime I started to put virtual pen to virtual white paper I couldn't come up with any angle. It's only now I figured out why.

The Witches is by far Hammer's most average production. It's neither good enough to praise it in any way, nor bad enough to mock or condemn it. Heck, it is one production where they begged the censor to give it an X rating, though he left it with an A as there really is nothing adult or scary in it. At all.

Screenplay is by Nigel Kneale. Given the amount of energy he wasted bitching about how Hammer in his opinion ruined their Quatermass adaptations, it is surprising he managed to keep so quiet about this production.

So what can I say about the production. Nothing much other than..... Meh!!!!

2 comments:

Robert JE Simpson said...

I blame Joan Fontaine. She's frankly boring in it. Never a great actress (including her Oscar win), and completely out of place in this one.

Script by Nigel Kneale so there should be something to enjoy... Will have to rewatch myself sometime soon and re-evaluate.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I saw this one on late night tv in the old days (70's) and although I bought the AnchorBay release some years ago I've yet to rewatch it. Possibly because the protagonist is a little old lady, but more likely because the movie is kind of bleah!