A skeptical college professor discovers that his wife has been practicing magic for years. Like the learned, rational fellow he is, he forces her to destroy all her magical charms and protective devices, and stop that foolishness. He isn't put off by her insistence that his professional rivals are working magic against him, and her protections are necessary to his career and life.
Burn, Witch, Burn, La Nuit de L'aigle, Arde, bruja, arde, Hypno, La notte delle streghe, A Filha de Satã, Brûle, Sorcière, Brûle !, 鹰之夜, Гори, ведьма, гори
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I love witchcraft films, and this one is a very classy affair. It's central play is "masculine" logic vs. "feminine" intuition (and magic). It's a great (if bleak) look into 60s flavored sexism and gender essentialism. Almost immediately, Janet Blair's character, Tansy, is having her experiences discounted by her husband. An example of supposed "logic" explaining away the experiences, concerns, and grievances of women and the many marginalized. A reification of power, here domestic, but with obvious larger (and troubling) echoes. And into the fire all of her totems go. But then the play swings the other way...
To this movie's tremendous credit, not only does Tansy turn out to be right, but in the final, climactic scene, it isn't…
“Ladies and gentlemen, the motion picture you are about to see contains an evil spell, as used by practitioners of witchcraft for centuries. Even today, in many parts of the world, people practiced black magic and witchcraft. Charms, amulets, voodoo candles, grave dirt, and locks of hair are believed to ward off evil spirits and spells. You may doubt the effectiveness of these spells, but through every civilization, people have believed in witches. Could they all be wrong? I don't think so. For I have see its power, proved too many times. I am now about to dispel all evil spirits that may radiate from the screen during this performance!”
As soon as the US opening narration finished I knew…
Great POV shots in this film, especially gauze-filtered shots through the eyes of Janet Blair, as a practicing witch who loves her husband, a psychology professor at an English college who is in the running for the position of faculty chair of the department. The idea that women immersed in the occult are essentially pulling the strings that allow their husbands to advance in their careers offers a lot of fertile ground for analysis, but the film itself reaches some really tense moments on the basis of sticking to its story as big issues float about it. It's a relationship film about an academic who is as immersed in his faith in logical reality as is his wife in her…
1st Sidney Hayers (followed by Circus of Horrors)
Hello everyone! I was lucky enough to get the opportunity recently to review two new home video releases for The Geek Show, a wonderful website that counts a number of my friends on here amongst its contributors. By sheer coincidence, I managed to choose two releases that came out on the same day, so please enjoy my first two official write-ups on something other than LB! The first is a review of Radiance's new boxset of three films by Jean-Pierre Mocky (of which Agent Trouble is my favourite and definitely something you should look out for) and the second was this classic of British horror cinema! It's been nearly a decade since…
Kleiner, feiner und extrem effektiver Okkult-Thriller, drückt (für einen Film älteren Datums) ungemein aufs Gaspedal, so dass nie Langeweile aufkommt, lässt einiges an Atmosphäre auf den Zuseher los und lässt diesen mit einigen gelungenen POV-Sequenzen verzückt aufblinzeln.
Dass man mit einem geringen Budget was Feines stemmen kann wird hier glasklar gezeigt, und beweist auch , dass sich gewisse Meister des Genres sicherlich hier den einen oder anderen Tipp geholt haben.
Und wer bei den Namen Fritz Leiber, Charles Beaumont und Richard Matheson nicht schon mal mit der Zunge schnalzt………
Kleiner Geheimtipp für Anhänger des Okkult-Kinos.
Cinematic Time Capsule
1962 Marathon - Film #71
”I am now about to dispel all evil spirits that may radiate from the screen during this performance!”
Right from this wonderful opening monologue here’s a highly suspenseful British horror flick that looks and feels like an extended episode of the Twilight Zone.
And you know what… if you wanna stash magical paraphernalia around the house be my guest… just as long as you keep my side of the washroom counter clear of all those cosmetic nick-knacks.
"Do you honestly think that I believe any of that rubbish?"
(That poster is amazing.)
The most terrifying moment in this film is when a student accuses Norman of sexual assault/harassment, and he confronts her. The dean is watching; everyone is watching. She's on trial, not him. Not once does anyone defend her. (That she is lying and compelled by witchcraft only makes it more odious; she is completely without agency and being berated and scorned by a man who has power over her.) It's a nasty scene that is even more vile with the day's headlines. This moment is not a scene only possible in the past; women are still silenced in this way.
Witches are often depicted as people (usually women) hiding in our midst. Anyone (any woman) can…
A very weird mix of what William Castle did then and what A24 does now. That probably doesn't register unless you've seen it.
One of my favourite witchy films. Love the slow burn which really makes the tension unbearable at times. Cinematography is lush. Janet Blair is fantastic. Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere!!!
English text below
Ein erwachsener, ernster und effektiver übernatürlicher Thriller um einen vom Erfolg verwöhnten, vollkommen rationalen Psychologie-Professor, dessen Leben mehr und und mehr aus den Fugen gerät, als er mit Hexerei konfrontiert wird. Exzellent komponierte Schwarz-Weiß-Bilder, eine durchdachte Dramaturgie und starke Hauptdarsteller*innen machen diese britische Low-Budget-Produktion zu einem kleinen Juwel. Ein im doppelten Sinn fantastischer Film, der an die Qualität von Jacques Tourneurs NIGHT OF THE DEMON (aka CURSE OF THE DEMON; 1957) heranreicht.
PS: Der unter dem wenig sensiblen Titel BURN, WITCH, BURN firmierenden US-Fassung wurde ein haarsträubender Monolog vorangestellt.
PPS: Eine Sequenz in Dario Argentos SUSPIRIA ist deutlich von NIGHT OF THE EAGLE beeinflusst.
Bitte beachten: Ich bewerte die Filme auf der 5-Sterne-Skala immer innerhalb ihres Genres,…
Hooptober 5.0 Film 10
6 Films before 1970 (1/6)
Be still my beating heart, what a voice for scary bedtime stories. Paul Fees you love you!
Norman what a clever professor you are finding all your wifes charms about the house. I mean woman I thought you were intelligent, time to burn em....ooooft.
Your going to have a stinker Norman, VILE n FILTHY. Don't get me wrong he loves Tansy, needs a nudge to reminisce that Jamaica trip. I tell you, could have done with Tansy in Hereditary.
Do you believe?
