In a time where paranoia could hold a strong power over small townsfolk and bred even further by an individual who uses it for their own corrupt intentions, Witchfinder General is a film from 1968 starring the legendary Vincent Price. He portrays Matthew Hopkins, a 17th century English lawyer; going from town to town with his right hand man John Stearne (Robert Russell). They come to investigate accusations of witchcraft which often times are called in by the town’s magistrates. You could almost imagine the duo to be like Ghostbusters for witches, set in the mid-1600s with intent of making money and doing everything within their power produce evidence of witchcraft.

Kicking off in a way similar to a movie called Evilspeak in which an execution of a witch grabs your attention right from the get go, then fades out and calms you down to begin the film, where a small band of soldiers from the civil war between King Charles’s royalist party and Lord Oliver Cromwell’s parliamentarians are taking a stroll through the woods on their way to get some much needed downtime, quickly they find themselves under attack, after a small scuffle they emerge victorious with only one causality which is brushed off like nothing to the men. However in the bushes one of the enemies thought dead gets ready to take a life with him before passing away, when a quick shot by soldier Richard Marshall (Ian Oglivy) quickly puts a bullet in that plan, saving the leader of the regiment’s life.

As they part ways and go on break, Richard travels to visit the priest of his old neighborhood, John Lowes (Rupert Davies). Once he reaches John they catch up and talk about the war and the real reason why Richard is there, to visit John’s niece Sarah Lowes (Hilary Heath) whom Richard has been in love with since childhood. They set forth plans for marriage which is accepted by John. The next day Richard rides off to rejoin his regiment, on his way he passes a group of villagers awaiting the arrival of a lawyer from out of town.

Down the road he encounters two men on horseback, that very lawyer by the name of Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price) and his assistant, John Stearne. Little does Richard know this pair would ride into town and harm those close to him. The Hopkins/Stearne due would go into the town and Interrogate and torture the accused for confessions of which craft. Torture scenes in the film while tame by today’s standards were quite gruesome for it’s time. Laying down the blueprints for movies like saw and hostel which relies strongly on the torture where as Witchfinder General uses it as light support to an already strong story that stands alone. Influence from the film could also been found in Heavy Metal music, with a band that called themselves Witchfinder General in the 1980s and Cathedral naming their 1996 EP, Hopkins(The Witchfinder General).

When Richard returns again, he stumbles upon a villager who reveals some grave news involving the town priest, he rushes into town to verify what he suspects, when he arrives and sees the chaos and destruction before him inside johns home, he makes a vow that lets revenge guide the rest of the film to its gruesome end.

 The documentary “Witchfinder General: Michael Reeve’s Horror Classic” takes strong testimonials and stories about the film and how it came about from Richard Squire of the Vincent Price exhibit, Screenplay Writer Chris Wicking, and author Stephen Jones. All of them tell stories of Vincent Price, The Company made the film, the Director in which Stephen Jones goes on to point out an interesting fact that director Michael Reeves had a relationship that would be very similar to Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, where he would cast childhood friend Ian Ogilvy in roles of his movies. The documentary also sheds light on how Matthew Hopkins originally died of old age in his bed where in the movie he dies in a savage revenge induced way that shows you an individual fully savoring vengeance.

I am almost ashamed to admit I really never did watch a lot of Vincent price films or even films below the 1980 era, but this film really gave me a good taste of the mans work and why he is so legendary and remains iconic today, Not knowing of Vincent Price and loving horror movies is the equivalent of liking rock music and not knowing of Beatles or Rolling stones, it just doesn’t happen.

-derek-