Burn Witch Burn

I like the British locale of a small university, replete with ivy-covered walls, book-lined offices and shaded courtyards. I also love the sea-side cottage with yawning cliffs, abandoned graveyards and crashing waves. These sets are utilized for chief affect, and the actors earnest performances certainly give the film a respectable ambiance. A simple, if rather silly story, "Burn Witch Burn" details a young professor (Peter Wyngarde) who appears to be rising quickly within the collegiate hierarchy. We soon discover his wife is a full-fledged witch, casting spells to insure her husband's success. When the befuddled professor forces his wife to burn the unearthly trinkets, bad luck befalls them and someone, of course, has to pay. Throw into this occult mix the wife of a rival professor, boiling a few pots of her own ghostly herbs.

It's oddly, if not entertainingly, surreal to see these pseudo Donna Reeds adorned in perfect bouffants, eyes wide with anger, casting spells in order to guarantee the safety/success of their professional husbands. Margaret Johnston, as the rival witch, is especially hilarious as she waxes evil over a small voodoo doll through gritted teeth.

These are some disturbed ladies, and the men of "Burn Witch Burn" are helpless to change the growing tide of events. And that's probably what makes this unique British horror film so interesting. It's the games being played by seemingly innocent women behind closed doors. They are not powerless, but in fact, have complete control over not only their men's professional, but eventually their spiritual lives. Written by Richard Matheson and Charles Beaumont, two of the finest supernatural writers of this era (they both cut their teeth writing original "Twilight Zone" episodes), "Burn Witch Burn" is aided by some great dialogue and the crisp direction of Sidney Hayers.

How much one fears witchcraft will determine just how frightening this film is. For 1962 audiences, my guess is this film gave them the creeps. Witchcraft had really not been dealt with in a modern setting like this before. For today's audiences? Well, there's something oddly erotic about seeing frenzied Donna Reed look-a-likes weaving dark magic behind ominously closed doors.