Customer Reviews

The Witch

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was just blown away by THE WITCH (LA STREGA IN AMORE / THE WITCH IN LOVE) 1966.

It is a pretty so-so Sinema Diable DVD, but the quality of the film transcended the bad sound and fullscreen presentation of what was obviously a scope film.

Richard (The Haunting) Johnson plays a committed Lothario, who gets his comeuppance when he takes a position organizing the erotic memoirs of an aging countess and her beautiful "daughter". Countess Dracula clearly borrowed a theme here and there but never managed the level of sophistication that The Witch has to offer, or it's genuinely sensual (though not explicit) eroticism.

I would rank it with the best of Bava, maybe even a dash higher in that it maintains an equally wonderful visual style, but also managed a rather richly layered premise, and some pretty great performances. I'm always thrilled to find a great Euro-horror that is every bit as accomplished as Black Sunday, Eyes Without A Face, I Vampiri, or Castle of Blood.

This film was new to me. I would also love to see a better edition, does any exist? Either way its a must for the fan of great Euro-gothic horror.

If Michelangelo Antonioni directed an episode of "The Twilight Zone", it would probably look something like this. The witch in question is an old crone who with a sip of a potion, turns into a Sophia Loren clone (well, Sophia without the heat). Richard Johnson plays the handsome, proverbial fly who becomes her amorous prey when he finds himself a permanent resident in her lair. While the plot is mere contrivance - and an old one at that - there is enough sultry, surreal, sophisticated-sixties, Italiano café society atmosphere to keep one's interest. The B&W photography creates a palpable claustrophobic feel, and although the soundtrack is dubbed, the actors at times can speak volumes with their eyes. The film should have been released with its original title: "La Strega in Amore" [Witch in Love]. This cover and title may lead some folks to assume that this is a Halloween movie. It isn't. It's fun viewing though if you enjoy steamy, surreal European movies from the sixties.

A unique and underrated mood piece about a womanizing historian who is called to the old and large gothic home of an old woman to do some work on her late husband's journals. While there he falls for the woman's beautiful daughter Aura (Rosanna Schiaffino). The man realizes that something is wrong and becomes obsessed with the girl.

Everything about this film is top notch. The black & white photography, the use of the many gothic pieces, and the deliberate slow pacing used to create various kinds of tensions... mysterious, sexual and dramatic.

if it's a good movie when you can't hear a word being spoken. Terrible, and I mean brutal audio makes it impossible to make out what the characters are saying. DVD's like this are more frustrating than they are worth the effort to watch. It's only a movie for God's sake! I should be able to hear it. 25 minutes was all I could last.