Not even bad in a good way

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

With a fear of witches among the local peasants, a vengeful witch hunter and his assistant travel to a remote village supposedly steeped in witchcraft, and once a group of soldiers learns of their treacherous behavior set out to hunt them down and bring them to justice.There is a lot that really impresses in here. One of the main features involved here is the fact that the film is for the most part historically accurate in what happens. The characters, the towns, the accusations and the tortures and executions are all real- life scenarios and events that makes what happens all the more terrifying in knowing that what happened to the people in the film where actually done in real life. Watching the torture scenes where people are chained to a rock wall, stabbed and sliced with knives or constantly slapped around until a confession is heard, dumping the bodies into a river to see if they sink or swim and adjust the punishment according to what happened are extremely brutal and uncompromising, which makes them all the more terrifying when added to the realistic attitude and feel to the film. The realism extends to more than just the violence, which has some really impressive sets and setting, with the towns being realistically captured and giving off an impressive air of menace and foreboding that really works to the film's advantage. The rural villages and countrysides are even better as the wide-open spaces and large plains make them all the more spectacular and a real treat for the eyes. It also extends beyond that as well as Price has never been more evil, and he's never been this campy. You are never given the impression that you are supposed to like him or celebrate his acts, and this is one factor that makes the movie work. It's a great performance that really enlivens the proceedings and is an absolute joy to watch. This really isn't that bad of a film without a lot to dislike, but what's there is pretty big. The biggest issue is that the film itself doesn't seem as gory and violent as the reputation gives it. Returning to its grim tone and torturous violence today seems like a humdrum exercise, not because it has lost its power, but because the model it ushers in is a worn-out, overused feel to those of us with a passing interest in what happened. The tortures mainly consist of being slapped around until a confession and then the real torture begins, but the fact that most of the torture time is spent with the slapping technique, it leaves the feeling that it's more brutal in reputation than in practice. It also wastes a great opportunity by never concerning itself with any sociological or historical analysis of what that led to the conditions under which the witch-hunts occurred. It would've been a lot more interesting had the film actually done the trials and accusations to really amp up the rest of the hypocrisy and corruption present. That would've added to the feeling of total dire that the film exudes, and is a shame that it wasn't done in that manner. All in all, it's not bad but does feature a few big flaws.Today's Rating/R: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Language, an off-screen Rape and a mild sex scene.

This 60's telling of Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, is a classic of it's time, starring Vincent Price as the titular character, and featuring Ian Ogilvy. As the witchfinder general it was Hopkins's task to find and destroy any witches on the English Isles, which according to legend, he managed with ease and brutality. Price manages to bring Hopkins to life as a nasty and vindictive, seedy little man with a draw towards torture and pain. Ian Ogilvy, playing Richard Marshall, who is angered when Hopkins attacks a local priest and his daughter. Toe to toe Ogilvy and Price really deliver excellent performances in this film and help drive the tension and action. This is a brilliant example of how you can make a film work with a semi- decent story and great actors, who needs a massive budget or CGI! A great film for fans of retro horror films or anybody looking to make a lazy Sunday afternoon that little bit more fun. Enjoy :)

Vincent Price is unbearably cruel in this picture, but unfortunately that is how it was. It is more or less a true story, and the reality of it was probably crueller still - Matthew Hopkins murdered hundreds in his profitable witch-hunts and went on for three years.Both the acting, the direction, the photography and the music is outstanding in this film, contrasting sharply to its horrible story. Personally I find Ian Ogilvy the best acting performance here, Vincent Price is a little too professional and acting more or less on routine, he had been making characters like this for twenty years and more, while also Rupert Davies like always is perfectly reliable, while only Patrick Wymark as Cromwell is a little out of place, a little too small and fat and not quite convincing. But the greatest credit goes to the direction, to realize a film like this with all its abhorrent cruelties and inhumanities and keeping it convincing, realistic and in control. It's a revolting but admirable masterpiece of a historical film exposing the truth of man's darkest sides as he is gone to his worst, which unfortunately happens sometimes.

In the world of '60s British horror cinema, few films were as gritty, downbeat, disturbing or downright violent (not to mention mean-spirited) as this one. In fact, none were. WITCHFINDER GENERAL is a landmark in the history of cinema, and along with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, it helped to usher in the new wave of ultra-violent '70s gore films where a happy ending could no longer be guaranteed. It's a brilliant film but also a depressing one to watch; nobody will come out of this with smiles on their faces (unless they're sociopaths), instead a feeling of cold sickness (your mileage may vary) similar to the gut punch of THE EXORCIST. I love this movie because of the way it paints the English countryside; an idyllic and beautiful rural landscape, packed with lush foliage and picturesque villages, accompanied by the famously lyrical 'Greensleeves' type music. Yet into this Eden comes death; painful, protracted death. It's a film which focuses on death. Death by drowning, burning, hanging. and many other varieties.One of life's ironies is that director Michael Reeves himself died after the production of this, his last film. His career had been interesting but short-lived, but at least this and THE SORCERERS are worth seeing. Vincent Price dominates the cast as the cold-hearted Matthew, a man you hate yet also one of his more human portrayals of a monster; there's no over-acting here, just a realistic persona of a man without a conscience and out for his own ends. Supporting him are the gleefully sadistic John (believed to be a woman in historical stories) who enjoys 'pricking witches' and beats a fair number of people to watch. Hilary Dwyer is the damsel-in-distress who undergoes rape and torture and screams her head off; Ian Ogilvy is surprisingly deep as the Roundhead who finds himself pushed over the edge by the murderous antics. There's just enough time for Patrick Wymark to show a convincing cameo as Cromwell himself and Rupert Davies to undergo sadism as a priest accused of conspiring with devils.Comment has been made that the structure of this film is similar to the classic "revenge western", with Ogilvy riding through a rugged and wild landscape in search of his wife's abuser. That may be so, but the film is still unpredictable throughout, right down to the manic climax. It's an affecting piece of work that rewards close viewing and which still packs the same impact today as it did thirty years ago. Horror fans should buy immediately. Oh, and watch out for a cameo from Steptoe himself, Wilford Brambell!