Red-Barracuda A woman arrives at a rural English village to take up a role as a teacher at a school. She has not long recovered from the mental trauma of experiencing voodoo rituals close at hand when she had previously worked in deepest Africa and before long she finds that the inhabitants of her new home are acting in strange ways that serve as a reminder of the sinister encounters with black magic that haunt her past.The Witches is quite an unusual film from the British production company Hammer. While it did fall under their typical horror bracket, it was considerably more subtle in approach and starred an actress who had been on the Hollywood A-list, even winning an Oscar, namely Joan Fontaine. In fact, she owned the film rights to the novel 'The Devil's Own' by Peter Curtis on which this film was based and it was Hammer who she ultimately turned to in order to get it made. It was adapted for the screen by genre specialist Nigel Kneale who wrote the scripts for the three 'Quatermass' movies for Hammer. Despite the names involved it's a film which doesn't seem to have connected with audiences at the time and was unsuccessful at the box office. Nowadays, it seems to have a bit of a mixed reputation, with some finding it tame and poorly executed, while others liking its more atypical attributes. I've seen it twice now and have moved from being someone in the former category into one in the latter. At first I did find it underwhelming but I am glad I gave it a second chance as a further viewing made me realise that this one has an interesting ambiance and overall tone which I found to be nicely different from what Hammer normally went with.Being a story about witchcraft, it could be categorised alongside two other Hammer productions in The Devil Rides Out (1968) and To the Devil a Daughter (1976) but it has more in common with the non-Hammer British cult classic The Wicker Man (1973) on account of its sunny countryside setting populated with slightly oddball locals and occult sacrifice hovering in the background. I'm not going to pretend that this one is close to being as good as that stellar movie though, but it should be acknowledged that it was playing around with some similar ideas seven years before it. Whatever the case, this still has some good things about it. For one thing, I loved the tranquil setting, which was a nicely unusual location for a coven of witches to inhabit. It made for a change to play the events out in the sunny afternoon, as opposed to the more expected dead of night. The witch idea itself was one with a lot of merit too, with little clues and weird undercurrents being used to sign-post the occult as opposed to the less subtle approach that Hammer usually used. It could probably be said that the denouncement could have been better executed perhaps and there maybe could have been a little more suspense overall but I thought that on the whole this one's understated approach and sun-kissed English countryside setting had me intrigued and involved. Definitely one of the more unusual Hammer productions out there and that is not exactly a bad thing.

TheLittleSongbird The Witches is a very watchable film, but also an uneven one, Hammer have done some very good to great films but this is not one of them. It's one of those cases where the first half, which was reasonably strong despite a few problems, fares far more strongly than the second half, which was incredibly problematic and awful at its worst.Visually, The Witches, as with most Hammer efforts, looks great. The scenery and sets are both beautiful and eerie, it's stylishly shot and the lighting helps give off an effectively creepy atmosphere. The music is resolutely haunting and has a thrilling intensity while also having the ability of being intimate when it calls for it.The script does lack horror and mystery, but flow-wise and structurally it flows well and is decently written, and while the film is reasonably tame by today's standards the atmosphere still has a creepiness and the first half interests and entertains mostly. The direction is very competent in the first half and shows great technical assurance but falls flat in the last thirty minutes. The cast are very good and are the best thing about the film aside from the visuals. Joan Fontaine has been better, but the vulnerability of her character is very deeply felt, Alex McCowan has a lot of fun with his role while Kay Walsh's excellent performance steals the film.As said, the first half is reasonably strong. It does have its flaws, it does move too slowly in places and the prologue was rather vague and somewhat irrelevant. It's always professionally made and well-acted on the whole, and is intriguing and entertaining, with a great creepy atmosphere and some decent suspense.However, the second half really disappoints. It gets really tedious, gets increasingly confused, suspense, mystery and horror are non-existent and it dissolves into camp, which I don't think was intended. The film's biggest flaw is the climax, which has to be the worst ever ending for a Hammer film with its inept choreography, even worse dancing and it was just too amateurish to even be considered unintentionally funny.Overall, good first half, but very bad second half. An uneven film, with a lot of strengths and some big flaws. 6/10 Bethany Cox

AaronCapenBanner Cyril Frankel directed this horror tale that stars Joan Fontaine as schoolteacher Gwen Mayfield, who has returned from Africa as a missionary after an unpleasant encounter with the local witch doctor drove her out. Now hired to be the headmistress at the Haddaby school run by Alan Bax(played by Alec McCowen)and his sister Stephanie(played by Kay Walsh) Things are fine at first in this seemingly quiet English village, but sinister undercurrents present themselves as it turns out someone is leading a voodoo cult in an effort to claim power and reclaim youth, even if people have to die... Uneven film starts well, with fine performances, but someone let it slip away as it leads to a most absurdly over-the-top climax that isn't to be believed. A shame.

MartinHafer "The Witches" is an incredibly silly film. While it has some good moments and is oddly entertaining, the film certainly made me laugh when it shouldn't have! Not surprisingly, this was Joan Fontaine's final big-screen appearance--as she thoroughly embarrassed herself.The movie begins with Miss Mayfield (Fontaine) somewhere in Africa where she's being attacked by some witch doctor sort of fellow. Suddenly, the scene magically cuts away and Mayfield somehow escaped! She's now in England and is applying for a job as a teacher. In this tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Mayfield is very happy and things seem rather ideal. However, after a while, she sees evidence of voodoo--and it reminds her of the evil that befell her in Africa. And, incidentally, Mayfield starts acting VERY nutty. Where does all this go? Well, see for yourself--but suffice to say it ends with a giant pagan orgy with dancing and gyrations--and also, interestingly, some hints at lesbianism.The film clearly has some spooky moments and sets the mood nicely. Unfortunately, it also abounds with silly overacting. Miss Mayfield either smiles and acts like Mary Poppins on goofballs or she acts rather nutty. But her performance pales in comparison of EVERYONE in the final scene--one which is unintentionally hilarious. It's also hilarious that the lady who seems VERY interested in Mayfield also told her about the only way to destroy her and the devil cult! This is much like Dr. No installing a self-destruct button on his nuclear power plant and marking it 'self-destruct' and then allowing James Bond to see it!!! Overall, overacted and full of silly plot holes BUT also oddly entertaining.By the way, perhaps I was a therapist and psychology teacher too long, but at the 5:40 mark, I laughed at the crude Freudian imagery. I am not sure if the filmmakers intended it--I think they did!!