That was an excellent one.

One of the best films i have seen

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Restored classic; one of the infamous video nasties banned in Britain.Those looking for the juicy parts that were excised by the censors will be disappointed, as the stuff, even the castration with a razor blade, is tame by today's standards.The film will be a little talkie as it is a tale of an abused child's descent into madness.In a constant state of inebriation, Molly (Millie Perkins) suffers numerous flashbacks of abuse and pain.Director Matt Cimber achieved his greatest status a couple of films later with three Razzie nominations for Butterfly with Pia Zadora.

Before seeing "The Witch Who Came From The Sea" I only knew the pictures on posters and DVD covers, and that it was once on the BBFC's Video-Nasty list. I thought I was about to see a fast-paced and trashy gore-fest, but the film turned out to be quite the opposite of what I had expected. This is a rather slow-paced, weird, disturbing and also quite complex psychological Horror film whose reputation of being pure sleaze is more than unfair. Sure, the film is explicit and often engrossing in its depiction of sexual violence, but this is not the point of the film. This is vastly underrated film with a main focus on the psyche of its protagonist.Molly (Millie Perkins), who works in a sailor's tavern in a small New England nest, copes with her emotional stress by playing with her beloved nephews, and by drinking. She tells her nephews stories about their 'heroic' grandfather, a sailor, who was really a drunk child-molesting scumbag who had no scruples to abuse his own little daughter to gratify his sexual perversions. But her drinking habit is not Molly's only way of coping with her traumatic past, as the emotionally distressed woman's sex life begins to show murderous tendencies...Millie Perkins delivers a great performance as the Molly, a woman who, in spite of becoming murderous herself, is always mainly a victim. Lonny Chapman is also very good in the role of Long John, the tavern-owner, who is both a fatherly friend and a lover to Molly. The film is full of complex and interesting characters, and the photography is great. The flashbacks to Molly's terrible childhood are sad, shocking and hard to digest. Some people's desire to advocate censorship is mainly inspired by the idiotic assumption that any form of explicit on-screen violence will lead to real-life violence. "The Witch Who Came From The Sea" is a film that shows violence in a disturbing way that could in no way be misunderstood as glorifying. The fact that it was ever put on the Video Nasty list is the perfect proof for the idiocy of film-censors world wide. The film may have a few flaws, but its qualities are definitely predominant. Slow-paced and yet often shocking "The Witch Who Came From The Sea" is an underrated, disturbing and compelling psychological Horror drama that I highly recommend.

Witch Who Came from the Sea, The (1976) ** (out of 4) The Witch Who Came From the Sea isn't a seaside horror film like the title would suggest but another film in the long line of rape/revenge thrillers that was released throughout the 1970s. Unlike most of these low budget efforts, this film featured a somewhat respectable actress in Millie Perkins who received an Academy Award nomination for her role in The Diary of Anne Frank. The screenplay was written by Robert Thom who was making waves with Death Race 2000 and Wild in the Streets. Also of interest is that John Carpenter's future cinematograher, Dean Cundey go his start right here with this film, which is finally being released uncut and widescreen after years of P&S releases.Molly (Millie Perkins) is a troubled young woman who spends most of her time taking walks on the beach with her two young nephews. Molly was sexually abused by her sea captain father when she was young but she continues to talk highly of him. He was lost at sea but she tells stories of the day he will return and take her out to sea where she can be with mermaids and other creatures of the sea. Molly works in a bar where she meets various men including idols such as actors and football players. Soon, these men are found dead with their bodies mutilated. Is this a strange fantasy from Molly's abused mind or is she actually the one doing the killings? The Witch Who Came From the Sea has a rather strong cult following and a nice reputation but it's a film not too many people have seen. In fact, after viewing the film I'm sure the majority of the film's notoriety comes from the strange title rather than what the film offers. This is a cheaply made exploitation film that really doesn't set itself apart from any of film of its type and I was rather shocked to see that the film was threatened with an "X" rating because not even the violence is very strong.The biggest problem with the film is its screenplay, which tries to do something poetic but falls flat on its face in nearly every scene. For some strange reason, this exploitation film tries to take itself way too serious and appear to actually try and address incest and sexual abuse but the screenplay never captures any spirit or truthfulness that will make the viewer feel for Molly. The character is written as a weirdo and not once do we actually feel sorry for her or actually care about what she's doing.The story is also poorly constructed and never really makes sense, especially all the stuff dealing with the father returning from the sea. We are told many different things but the screenplay never backs anything up. We are given various insights to Molly yet once again, the screenplay never answers anything and in fact, we never even learn why Molly is killing all of these men to begin with. The film moves at a snails pace and never really gains any interests, although I'm sure most viewers will hang in there until the end. Why? Because this is the type of movie that you'll watch and wait for something to happen only to be letdown when nothing actually happens.With the story completely out the window you'd expect the film to deliver in the violence/gore section but again, the film even fails on that level. Again, I have a hard time believing this film would be threatened with an "X" rating, although the director constantly states this in the commentary. Perhaps this is just hype built around a film that not too many have actually seen. The violence for the most part is handled off screen, although it's quite clear that the woman is mutilating men's private parts. This here was handled much better in Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave and those two films handle the shock value a lot better.In the end I couldn't help but be really letdown by this film. I'm sure some might like it's dreamlike qualities but to me, the film doesn't offer anything that other exploitation films offers better. The movie tries to be something more dramatic and serious but in the end The Witch Who Came From the Sea is an exploitation film that forgot to be exploitive.

Exterminate the entire male race, Molly! Carry on castrating football-players and slicing up obnoxious TV-actors, as they're all bastards anyway! Whoa... I let go of myself there for a second, but only because this film is so very convincing in its portrayal of a traumatized young woman with a deeply repressed hatred towards overpowering men, spawned by a barbarically forced incestuous relationship with her father; a typical sailor. "The Witch Who Came From The Sea" is a gritty and disturbing motion picture, and definitely NOT the sleazy exploitation garbage it's reputed to be (courtesy of the stupid BBFC and their list of banned Video Nasties). Admittedly, I too was expecting a steaming pile of exploitative 70's trash, but the tone & style of this film literally blew me away! Millie Perkins gives a staggering performance as Molly, a devoted aunt to her nephews and go-to-girl of the popular seaside bar The Boathouse. She loves telling her nephews heroic stories about their grandfather when he was out at sea with his crew but, in reality, he was a perverted child molester who continuously hit & raped her. Molly reverts to her television set to find new idols, but her dark subconscious memories eventually cause her mind to snap and she goes on a malevolent killing spree. "The Witch etc..." is a truly odd but fascinating film, lightyears ahead of its time in the psychological department and rich on shocking themes instead of gratuitous gore. The notorious castration sequence is pretty difficult to watch and the incest parts could be considered offensive, but if you exclusively focus on those elements you'll miss out on a truly insightful psychological drama! Instead of turning into a relentless & vengeful killing machine like the girl in "I Spit on your Grave", Molly is still a very vulnerable woman and won't be a single moment that you'll stop caring for her. The fantastic script of this film also puts a lot of time in the drawing of the supportive characters. Everyone in this story seems to have an interesting personal background, from the uncanny-looking tattoo artist to Molly's emotionally unstable sister and the amiable bartender Long John. The low budget didn't prevent director Matt Cimber from selecting several marvelous and atmospheric filming locations and an extra word of praise goes out to Dean Cundey for his breathtakingly beautiful cinematography. This is a film every fan of exceptional cinema should respect and add to her/his collection.