Customer Reviews

The Witch Who Came From the Sea

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Kinda like a strange variation of REPULSION if re-written by Charles Manson. THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA is about a troubled woman named Molly who had a horrible childhood thanks to her dad raping her nonstop. Now as a heavy drinkin', pill poppin' adult Molly has a few problems of her own. The visions of mutilated corpses and the commercials telling her to kill are pretty serious, but that's nothing compared to her habit of hacking off men's dongs with a razor!

You'd think with a storyline like that that things would escalate until finally the film explodes into an orgy of blood, nudity and gore. Well, that's at least what I was hoping for. Sadly things actually slow down as the movie goes on until finally at the end I was getting pretty depressed.

If you're looking a film about female madness then stick with REPULSION, but if you want some psychotic sexy violence that's gonna make your eyes pop out then watch A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY 1 & 2.

Also for all you fans of the Don Knotts/Tim Conway classic THE PRIVATE EYES check out Stan Ross in a brief scene as the tattoo artist Jack Dracula. He's even on the back of the DVD case.

The poster art for "The Witch Who Came from the Sea"--which is reproduced in gorgeous color, but frustratingly cropped form, on the cover of the DVD--has absolutely nothing to do with the movie itself. "Witch" is not a horror film, but rather a scathing indictment of child sexual abuse which occasionally veers into horror-like territory.
Millie Perkins plays Molly, a spacy barmaid who idolizes men on TV, dotes on her two young nephews, and often recalls her late, seafaring father with unnatural reverence. She also has ugly castration fantasies that she acts upon about fifteen minutes into the film(don't worry, I'm not giving away the movie's major revelation here). Perkins is really good in this role, and Lonny Chapman also gives a fine performance as her grizzled boyfriend.
What else works in this film? The dreary, battered Venice Beach and Santa Monica location shots. The creepy soundtrack. Molly's sad, uncomfortable, frightening flashbacks to childhood. What DOESN'T work is the dialogue. Robert Thom(Perkins' husband at the time) wrote in the Ernest Hemingway-Rod Serling style; everyone in the film speaks exactly the same way, and they all sound so nutty that you'll often be left scratching your head in frustration. I think that Thom was going for a folksy, man-and-woman-on-the-street feel(for 1976), but the language comes off as goofy and stilted. That said, watch the film anyway--it really is worth it. You'll never, ever forget "Witch". (Without giving anything away, the final scene is wonderful, almost perfect.)
Extras include commentary by Perkins, director Matt Cimber, and cinematographer Dean Cundey; interviews with the same; and trailers for some other movies. What's really interesting about the film itself is that there are two or three scenes which I never saw on the ancient VHS print I used to rent. Brace yourself before you see this; obviously the film is not suitable for children, but many adults will find it extraordinarily unpleasant as well.

A must see for lovers of 1970's interior design. As a bonus you have a character, powerfully played by Millie Perkins, whose confusion of reality becomes our confusion as viewers, wonderfully so. I don't think anyone can quite fully explain this one. Attempts at feminist revenge generalizations fall short quickly. It must be experienced first hand.

First of all, forget that DVD cover! Theres nothing as fanciful or fantastical as that blatantly innappropriate image in the movie we have here. "Witch" concers a troubled young woman called Molly who's life is going nowhere as she drifts through her job as a waitress in a beach-side bar. Although, unbeknown to her colleagues, the woman is secretly sliding into madness, as she fantasises and hallucinates over football players she watches on TV, and relives an abusive childhood she suffered at the hands of her father. Things start to turn nasty when Molly actually meets a hunky footballer, but after taking him home she is somehow driven to tie him up and castrate him.
The whole film plods along in a limp dreary fashion, which might work if Mollys behaviour was graphically depicted on screen, but all the violence is very low key and nearly all off-screen, so the viewer does not get much chance to be jolted into being interested in what is going to happen. The locations are all run-down coastal bars and apartments, with plenty of ugly decor throughout which firmly plants this film in the 1970's (when it was made). Millie Perkins does turn in a good performance as the central character, her best line being delivered as she undresses her intended castration victim and then, glancing at the small safety razor blade she has to hand, sighs and murmers dejectedly to herself: "This is gonna take forever..."

Aside from that memorable line, the film will probably not hold your interest for much of it's running time. It's marketed as a horror film, but it is more a study of a troubled woman's descent into madness, that ocasionally lapses into lurid territory. Not really much here to get you sitting up in your seat. And certainly no witches coming from the sea...I still wonder what that title is all about.

Molly (Millie Perkins) is a cocktail waitress in a bar. She is also a schizoid murderer on a rampage! You see, Molly was horribly abused as a child by her freakish father, leaving her w/ no alternative other than to castrate any man that deserves it. Molly is guided in her mission by helpful TV commercials that tell her what needs to be done. THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA is an interesting, often tedius relic from the wacky 70s. While Perkins is decent in her role, the rest of the cast is like drift-wood. However, the story isn't terrible, and I never tire of seeing groovy fashions and hearing people say, "Far out!"...

The title is so misleading it's not funny as there's very little supernatural elements nor special effects to speak off. This is a low budget exploitatio flick from the 70's and as such relies a lot on sex and shock value (a couple of castration scenes) to grab the viewer's attention span.

Starring Millie Perkins is basically about a middle aged women with severe, mental problems (that's putting it midly). She sleeps with men then kills them. We learn why she is the way she is later on.

Unlike other exploitation flicks though this one has decent acting and
the actors in the movie do take it seriously. The movie plays parts of it like a soap opera. In the end, this is movie that you'll either love or hate or be indifferent too. Looking at the ratings for the movie on IMDB
it just seems like average flick that most people will never see.

It's an ok film but I wouldn't go through too much in finding it as there are other movies like this with more sex, violence and a better climax than this movie. Matt Cimber who directed it went on to make more unforgettable flicks and Perkins had a long tv career.

Here is an odd little gem of a film that fortunately ( at least for fans of offbeat cinema) has resurfaced on DVD, boasting a pristine film transfer. Descriptions of the film, the title of the film, and even the DVD cover itself do little to relate, or even hint at what is, as it turns out, an altogether strange, unsettling, humorous, and entertaining cinematic treat. The off kilter acting styles, unnatural tone, and dark humor of the film shares a kinship to the works of David Lynch ( who is too often misused as a comparative description) and is sure to surprise and delight viewers who have an affinity for the outré. Highly recommended.