Customer Reviews

The Witching

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This movie is a very strange one indeed. It is edited from its original version, and was originally called Necromica-"a life for a life" 1972. Lori Brandon (played by Pamela Franklin) moves to the mysterious town of Lilith with her husband Frank (played by Michael Ontkean) when he receives a new job at a novelty company. At the start of the film Lori recalls an incident in her childhood where she literally brought a friend back to life after drowning in a pool. But Lori also just lost a baby during childbirth and is in a state of shock. When Lori arrives in Lilith she soon discovers that there are no children, all the couples are young, and the couples are not aloud to have children.
Once sealed in the guarded and gated community Lori tries to understand the motives of her husband's mysterious boss, Mr. Cato (played by Orson Wells) and his satanic cult that the entire town belongs to. Only Lori can see the ghost of Mr. Cato's dead son who seems to be trying to warn her about what is going to happen.
As the movie unfolds Lori reads up on magic and spells to help her understand what is happening to her.
***Here's where the plot starts to differ from its original release.
Lori discovers the town is casting spells upon her and begins to counter the magic they are sending her way with some spells of her own. Photomontage footage flips from the work of the cult members to Lori casting her enchantments till the film reaches its climatic conclusion at an abandoned gravesite.
The end sequence of this film differs in the two versions of the move. One film plays a decent from the coffin to the underworld in reverse. The other film plays forward and follows one of the funeral attendees in their journey to the netherworld.

Either of these movies is creepy and eerie enough for a good watch for the heck of it. My only question is: why didn't Lori just use her powers to resurrect her own baby at the beginning of the movie?

Of all the witch films made in the 70's, this has got to be one of the best. Orson Wells is truly great as the Warlock and High Priest of a small town coven. The ritual scenes are a triumph featuring extremely detailed altars, great costumes (especially Orson Wells dressed up as the Goat of Mendes) and delightfully bad acting. I will cherish this VHS forever. I am somewhat surprised it is not yet available on DVD.

This movie, I really don't like these kind of movies, but I'm an Ontkean fan and he is in the movie. I didn't like the movie tho.