jamesraeburn2003 In the 17th century the Lanier family buried a Whitlock woman, Vanessa (Yvette Rees), alive as a witch and took over the family's estate. Three hundred years later the feud between the two families is still very much alive but, despite it, Amy Whitlock (Diane Clare) and Todd Lanier (David Weston) are making wedding plans. When property developer Bill Lanier (Jack Hedley) starts renovating the Whitlock estate, a bulldozer rips up graves in the old Whitlock cemetery escalating the feud between the families to boiling point. Vanessa rises from her disturbed resting place and with the aid of Morgan Whitlock (Lon Chaney Jr), a descendant from her family, uses witchcraft to destroy the Lanier clan one by one...One of those dear low budget British shockers made during this country's horror wave of the 1960's, which was spearheaded by Hammer studios. Harry Spalding's screenplay neatly knits together what is a pretty formulaic story line that contains little that we have not seen before. Nevertheless, thanks to the efforts of the talented director Don Sharp, there are some splendid, extremely well staged shocks like when Vanessa manifests herself in the rear view mirror of a victim's Morris Minor car whom is hypnotised into driving to her death off a cliff face at a rubbish tip.Most of the cast bar Lon Chaney Jr - here appearing in one of his last starring roles and by now way passed his prime - is competent while not exactly inspired. Diane Clare and David Weston, in particular, are rather dull as the two young lovers while Jack Hedley is not exactly the screen's greatest hero. Yvette Rees, although without dialogue as Vanessa, looks suitably glamouress while equally sinister at the same time.Arthur Lavis' b/w camera-work is suitably atmospheric with its swirling mists and creepy graveyards and a Sight and Sound review at the time described the film as often "reminiscent of Val Lewton.". Judge for yourself.

MartinHafer The movie WITCHCRAFT certainly was never meant to be Shakespeare nor an episode of "Masterpiece Theater", so you can't expect it to be great intellectual entertainment. However, as a relatively low-budget horror film, it manages to deliver quite well.While the film stars Lon Chaney, Jr., he doesn't seem to be the star and he's not a welcome addition to the film. All he seems to do is yell a lot and you wonder why everyone in the film has a nice British accent while Lon doesn't!! Still, it's a dandy tale about a couple greedy land brokers who accidentally unleash the spirit of a dead witch when they thoughtlessly bulldoze a graveyard. Considering that the witch was buried alive and had the powers of Hell at her disposal, it isn't surprised that she returns to seek vengeance on the family who buried her. Heck, maybe she's so angry because she was alive all that time (about 300 years) waiting to be released--gee that would be boring!!The film has an intelligently written plot, good acting (apart from Chaney) and solid pacing--making you believe, somehow, that all this COULD be real! The only problem, and it's a small one, is that in one scene where a lady discovers a Satanic coven, she yells out to one of them as she recognizes her! If any SANE person saw these human sacrificing nuts, I doubt if their first impulse would be to yell out but instead would just leave....and very, very quietly!! Good low-budget entertainment that manages to be better than usual even with this one silly mistake.

Prichards12345 Until I caught this on DVD tonight I'd never seen Witchcraft, and that's despite being a horror film fan for virtually all my life. This is one that hardly ever gets shown in the UK, which is a shame, as it's a darn sight better than some of the stuff that turns up on late night t.v.The story is basically a simple one concerning two feuding families,The Laniers and The Whitlocks, the former having disposed of their enemies in the 1600s by branding their foes as witches, thereby ensuring that at least one of them is buried alive. Not a good idea to allow the tombstone to be disturbed for land development, then! For you see, witches they really are...As some other reviewers have pointed out, there's a playful borrowing of Romeo and Juliet here, as the youngsters from each side fall in love. This is something that gives some poignancy to the end of the film, as you can guess that things are not going to turn out right. Perhaps the film it most resembles is the slightly better City Of The Dead. Where Christopher Lee aided the resurrected sorceress in that movie here it's Lon Chaney Jr. It's nice to see him in a British horror and also rather sad. The years had not been kind to him since his heyday in the early forties. Alcohol problems had taken their toll, but Chaney is good value for his screen time, and you are constantly waiting for his character to re-appear.Jack Hedley is the standard British hero type (is this the only horror film with a town planner as the hero?) Diane Clare from Plague Of The Zombies plays one of the young lovers, and Yvette Rees is splendid (without a single line of dialogue) as the resurrected witch.The film is ably directed by Don Sharp (Kiss of the Vampire) and has excellent moody lighting. Yep, that is Hammer Films' Oakley Court standing in as one of the family mansions, and the real power of the film is its contrast between the ancient and the modern - the opening shot pans from a busy road full of cars to an old, decrepit cemetery. A point that's reinforced throughout. The film's set pieces are rather underwhelming, unfortunately, including a pretty lame car crash off a cliff. But in all this is well worth a look; plenty of style, slightly lacking in conviction.

JoeKarlosi A modest but good British horror film that offers a decent part for aging star Lon Chaney. There has been a feud going on between the Whitlock family and the Lanier family ever since the 17th century when the Laniers denounced young Vanessa Whitlock as a witch and buried her alive. Now in modern day England, the Laniers are part of a land developing business that is running bulldozers over the ancient Whitlock graveyard and disturbing their headstones, much to the protest of head spokesman Morgan Whitlock (Chaney). To make matters worse, Morgan's niece Amy (Diane Claire) is in love with Bill Lanier (Jack Hedley). When the tomb of Vanessa Whitlock gets accidentally desecrated, the angered witch (Yvette Rees) rises to seek vengeance by placing curses on the Laniers. It's nice to see Lon Chaney amidst this devilish action, and he adds dignity to what was one of his last good horror movies. Director Don Sharp (Hammer's KISS OF THE VAMPIRE) sets up a few eerie shots and imbues these black and white proceedings with a haunting atmosphere. This movie would make a fine double feature with HORROR HOTEL (aka "The City of the Dead"). *** out of ****