Scott LeBrun Talented veteran Andrew Prine is featured here in one of his delicious starring roles in 1970s exploitation. This is bizarre, trippy stuff certain to appeal to cult movie enthusiasts. Granted, it's pretty talky stuff, but it's still rather fascinating.Written by a real-life practicing warlock, Robert Phippeny, it casts Prine as Simon Sinestrari, a charismatic "magician" who lives out of a storm drain. Simon is the real deal, and takes himself quite seriously. Seriously enough that when people dare to mock him or mess with him, he takes his revenge.As directed by Bruce Kessler, this is truly offbeat from beginning to end. It saves all of its credits for the final few minutes, a practice that was far less common back in the early 70s. When Simon first makes his entrance, he addresses us directly, although this device is dropped right afterwards. It's got a deliberate pace, but Phippeny's dialogue is truly something to hear. There is a heavy dose of humour at times, especially when Simon has to help his eager young friend Turk (George Paulsin), who's gotten overly stimulated, if you know what I mean. Highlight sequences include Simon mocking the participants in a Wiccan ceremony, and the wonderful finale which pulls out all the stops.The main attraction is a fantastic central performance by Prine, who commits deeply to his role. Co-starring are Brenda Scott (to whom Prine was actually married) as Simons' love interest, Norman Burton as her attorney father, and Gerald York as aging hipster Hercules, with underground celebrity Ultra Violet also making an appearance.This is just enough of a curio to keep you watching. Undoubtedly it's very much a product of its era, but that's part of what makes it fairly compelling. You sure don't see stuff like this getting made nowadays.Seven out of 10.

Woodyanders Powerful and charismatic warlock Simon Sinestrari (superbly played with lip-smacking aplomb by Andrew Prine) resides in the Los Angeles storm drains and ekes out a living entertaining stuck-up hippies at posh parties. Simon uses black magic to get revenge on those folks who dare mock, scorn and persecute him. Director Bruce Kessler, working from a witty and intriguing script by real-life practicing warlock Robert Phippeny, delivers an offbeat and enjoyable slice of vintage early 70's horror exploitation weirdness. This film hits its fabulously freaky zenith during a gloriously lurid Satanic ceremony. The cast are all uniformly fine, with nice performances by Brenda Scott as the lovely, smitten Linda, George Paulsin as Simon's sweet, naive young best friend Turk, Angus Duncan as the arrogant Colin, Andy Warhol Factory superstar Ultra Violet as kooky devil cult leader Sarah, Norman Burton as stern, disapproving district attorney Rackum, and Richard Ford Grayling as pesky narc John Peter. Best of all, Prine really throws himself into his juicy lead role; he performs the spellcasting scenes in particular with tremendous flair and intensity. David L. Butler's slick, garish cinematography, the flavorsome period counterculture setting, a spooky'n'shuddery ooga-booga score by Stu Phillips, a pleasing surplus of tasty female nudity, and the gaudy low-fi special effects all further enhance the infectiously funky fun of this total trippy blast.

lazarillo I found this movie a little disappointing because I fell for the original advertising and was under the impression that 70's cult actor Andrew Prine would be playing a Manson-like cult leader. Instead Prine's character, Simon, is an actual warlock, although obviously not a very good one since has to live in the LA storm sewers. He also doesn't have much of a cult, just one dumb kid who follows him around like a puppy. At one point he does seduce a rich politician's daughter, but he is mostly interested in using her to cast a spell and has sex with her only as an afterthought. There is also a surprising homosexual subtext for a movie made at that time (although it is balanced out with abundant female nudity).The movie is really only half-serious. The tone is often pretty campy. Prine is good, but he often seems to be poking fun at his own character. He is actually much more entertaining when he plays these kind of characters straight. Technically, this is probably a better movie than "Centerfold Girls", "Nightmare Circus" or other Prine vehicles, but I still maintain Prine would have made a great Charles Manson.

Steve Nyland (Squonkamatic) SIMON KING OF THE WITCHES is the funniest movie I have seen in months. After reading about it for a few weeks while on my present witchcraft & occult kick I tracked down an old rental tape, poured myself a bowl of Booberry and sat down to a screening last night -- and was delighted to find a witty, self aware little thriller/comedy with some nice post Haight-Ashburian sensibilities, at the center of which is Andrew Prine in the most sadly Oscar nomination deprived performance aside from John Phillip Law's performance from OPEN SEASON. Andrew Prine will be forever linked to depraved, exploitation and horror films for one effort, the horribly misnamed BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD, but SIMON clearly demonstrates that he was an actor who worked with calm assuridity in the face of the absurd ... Simon is a warlock, an occultist magician who approaches his work with the sober seriousness of a plumber or electrician -- "It's just another professional trade" he exasperatedly tells one naysayer, and in fact the best parts of SIMON is when various doped up or stupid San Francisconians ask him to show them a magic trick or prove he really is a witch. Nobody listens when he tries to tell them that it is not the brimstone & abbey they know from fiction and is forced to oblige, with the outcome more often than not having comic results.Viewers looking for a depraved, sexually amoral satanic cult flick will be disappointed: there is only one witchraft & sex scene and it serves a role to the plot -- sorry! The tape's box promises "naked satanic orgies and human sacrifice" and yet both of these elements are displayed not in an attempt to Arouse or Gratify, but to ridicule those who have an erroneous impression of what witchcraft is about -- Simon visits a modern day coven of "witches" with his young charge and ends up hopping around on a push-broom at the end while the naked participants throw things at him and howl disapprovingly. Overdone, but hilarious.**SPOILER WARNING! *** The plot that the movie purports to tell involves Simon's attempts to put a hex on the local district attorney and the corrupt vice cops cracking down on the poor, hapless kids who sell grass and seem to share the same seven or eight brain cells. He does, but the plan backfires and Simon ends up being killed at the end by one of the kids at his own behest, willingly or no. All of this is of no importance to Simon, because death isn't an end, just sort of a cooling off period between lives. I like that.But what the film is really about, I think, is how stupid modern Americans are about "the spirit world" and those who purport to be able to connect with/control it. In many ways Simon's character is closer to a shamanistic ritual expert than a satanic witch, and I was pleased with how the entire story is told from a secular point of view -- we never hear about Satan or God, but about nature, cause & effect of human actions, and how Simon is merely a trained professional who can influence the nature of both humans, the elements, and also potted plants perched on high placed ledges. Simon's greatest magical feat in the film is to cause an unidentified cylinder of metal to glow like a lightsaber ... and is never referred to again. This is either because the filmmakers were more interested in showing Simon's interaction with other humans than conducting the ominous, quasi-sexual rites the tape box promises. Some of the 70's drug and lifestyle reference jokes get tiresome (he role of a homosexual man is used just to poke fun at gays, which this movie should be above but what the hell it was 1972), and it would have been nice to see Simon have another go at the naked sex incantation he attempts with the female "love interest" role that is more of a professional association than a romance.But whatever: I found this movie to be remarkably enjoyable, light hearted and still have moments of poignancy that made me think about my own ideas about occult and the witchcraft phenomenon that dominated American horror films from about 1971 until 1975. Usually the tact would be to follow a character through a series of encounters with those possessed by or in league with Satan (RACE WITH THE DEVIL being one of my favorites), but we rarely get to see the picture from the occultist's point of view -- It is amusing to find the one film that does, and to find that the Warlock in question views his profession with as much romanticism as employees of a bank feel about money. My single favorite moment from the film? When Simon and his charge set about building an altar in his sewer pipe home --"With lumber by Wyman Brothers." Not sure if that was supposed to be a plug or a joke, but you gotta love the matter of factness behind the line, and the whole film plays out with an equal taste for the blasé. HIGHLY recommended if you can find it, and Prine should get one of those Lifetime Achievement awards, perhaps sharing the stage with John Phillip Law for an acceptance speech for the ages. I'd tune in for that.8/10, and you can stuff your silly horror movies. Simon is Real.