Michael Reeves was a precocious English film-maker who had made, in the 1960s, three horror movies of varying distinction by the age of 23, and was dead just a year later, killed by a combination of booze and anti-depressant tablets.
Judging by Witchfinder General, he could have become a film-maker of distinction had he gone on to move outside of the horror genre. Witchfinder General, though it has its fair share of horror and lashings of tomato-sauce gore, shows some surety of direction and pace, although the actors are generally wooden and the story totally predictable.
It is the tale of Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, who, in the mid 17th century, tours rural England hunting down and torturing 'witches' to earn reward money and satisfy his sadistic nature. The Witchfinder General is played by Vincent Price in a (for him) quite restrained manner, though most of his acting does consist of striking grand poses.
His nemesis is a Roundhead who loves the ward of a priest accused of witchcraft. The priest is killed and his ward defiled; this becomes a classic tale of revenge, as the Roundhead, played by Ian Ogylvie (television's second Saint), exacts his bloody price.
The DVD includes the complete version of Witchfinder General, and offers an alternative shorter version, with less gore, cut to satisfy censorship requirements in some countries. It's easy to spot what was cut, as these restored elements have suffered over time - they seem to be shown in a different aspect ratio, and to have been stretched to match the rest of the print, and show signs of fading and wear. But they last for only a very few minutes in total, and do not detract from the film overall.
Witchfinder General has been hailed by some cineastes as a masterpiece of horror and suspense, and its maker as a virtual Orson Welles, cut short before reaching his prime. All this is exaggeration. But it is certainly a step above the average slash-flick, and a valuable part of British cinema history.
Video quality is generally fair. The film, even in broad-daylight outdoor scenes, seems to lack adequate contrast; although the image is smooth as silk, tonal detail seems lacking.
This does seem common to a lot of English movies of the period, and would not appear to be a transfer fault. Certain restored scenes are of very poor quality, but these were worth restoring, and do not detract from the overall experience.
