Witchcraft (1964)
Directed by Don Sharp
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., Jack Hedley, Jill Dixon, David Weston, Diane Clare, Yvette Rees, Marie Ney, Viola Keats, Victor Brooks, Barry Linehan

I don’t remember if it was due to a review I had read, but for some reason, I had always thought this film to be one of those poverty row pictures, featuring Chaney Jr. who would appear in just about anything just to keep working, so I never sought it out or bothered with it. This is another example that shows even a well seasoned student of the genre like me can completely misjudge a movie, just because of what they may have read or heard. I was in the mood for an old black and white film and figured that since I never had seen it, I might as well fix that and at least give it a try. What I wasn’t expecting was to find just how much I really enjoyed it.

Director Don Sharp had many plenty of films in the genre. He worked with Hammer Studios the year before on the highly underrated Kiss of the Vampire (1963). He also went on to do Rasputin: The Mad Monk (1966)for studio as well. Other titles in his horror resume are the 1965 sequel Curse of the Fly (another underrated film), Dark Places (1974), and even Psychomania (1973). But for this film, he sure must have been inspired by watching some of the films coming out of Italy around this time, specifically Bava’s Black Sunday. There are quite a few scenes in foggy cemeteries, with the figure of a hooded witch standing there so you can see a strong Italian influence here. And that is not a bad thing.

Lon Chaney Jr., while doesn’t have a lot of screen time here, sure makes an impact when he is on the screen. As the bitter old Morgan Whitlock, whose hatred for the Lanier family comes out in every one of his actions. Their families have been feuding for centuries, and Chaney plays the inborn hatred towards this family as if he himself was the one that was wronged.

But it wasn’t him. It was an ancestor who was accused of being a witch and buried alive, over 300 years ago. Now that some of that land where she was buried is being re-developed, indirectly by the Laniers, the 300 year-old grave is disturbed. And so she sets out to get her revenge.

Sharp does an excellent job of setting up beautiful night time landscapes with the shrouded fog creeping in. He gives us shots of the old cemetery, with the decrepit tombstones, and slow camera pans across the foggy sets, only to settle upon the feet of a hooded figure standing there. Nicely done.

There are some other familiar faces in the rest of the cast.  Hammer fans might recognize Diane Clare from Plague of the Zombies (1966). Unfortunately, she is about as flat here as she was in that movie. Jack Hedley had also worked for Hammer, but mainly in a couple of their non-horror films, such as swashbuckling The Crimson Blade (1963) and prison war film The Secret of Blood Island (1965).  He also was in Hammer’s dark comedy The Anniversary (1968), starring Bette Davis. Granted, fans of Lucio Fulci will recognize him from New York Ripper (1982). Yvette Rees plays the resurrected witch, Vanessa Whitlock. Though she is silent, her looks make up for that. With her shrouded robe and the help of some eerie lighting, she comes across as one scary lady. She went on to work with Sharp again in Curse of the Fly (1965).

If you’re looking for a nice creepy black and white film, you will enjoy this one. Sure, it’s no comparison to Bava’s Black Sunday, but it’s definitely a lot better than you might have thought, or read about as in my case. Since it was released in a double feature DVD release, with the price tag pretty low, I’m sure it will be well worth your investment to add this to your collection. Or even enough for you to rent it and give it your 90 minutes.