Possibly overpraised in some circles because it was the last film of its director, Michael Reeves, who died not long after this was released - it nonetheless remains a startling tough, vivid action horror movie. This was a hit and kicked off the second cycle of Poe movies for AIP but is very different from the Poes - Reeves was a big Don Siegel fan and approached this as a Western, and it feels very Western-y, with chases on horseback across the countryside, and women folk being raped and vengeance driving characters to great violence.
It benefits from a rich historical background: the English civil war with the country divided, lawlessness rampant and witchfinder Matthew Hopkins running about dispensing justice. He's played by Vincent Price in one of that actor's best performances - not hammy, but genuinely chilling. There is excellent support from Robert Russell as his odious companion.
It's very pacey and clear - Hopkins goes for a local priest (Rupert Davies) who is accused of a witch but is talked out of it by said vicar's niece (Hilary Dwyer) who offers up sex instead. But when Russell rapes Dwyer all bets are off and the priest is killed. Dwyer's boyfriend Ian Ogilvy goes looking for revenge which takes him a while but he ends up chopping Price into pieces. Which to be fair Price deserves but the experience has sent him and Dwyer half mad - the image of her screaming her lungs out is one of many you're likely to take from this film.
The plot is a bit repetitive in places - someone captures someone then escapes - but it's full of action and incident. Ogilvy is a strong hero, Dwyer is very pretty and pleasingly sexually liberated (before the rape). I also liked Nicky Henson as one of Ogilvy's mates and Patrick Wymark's cameo as Cromwell. There is some violence (witchburning, axe choppings) but you're mostly likely to remember the bleak, intense mood of it all.
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