Witchfinder General (Reeves, 1968): Rio Cinema, 11.30pm
A rare chance to see this British horror classic on the big screen- and in 35mm. This is a Cigarette Burns film club production so expect plenty of extras. Details here.
Time Out review:
'Filmed on location in the countryside of Norfolk and Suffolk on a modest
budget, this portrait of backwoods violence - set in 1645, it deals
with the infamous witchhunter Matthew Hopkins, and the barbarities he
practised during the turmoils of the Civil War - remains one of the most
personal and mature statements in the history of British cinema. In the
hands of the late Michael Reeves
(this was his last film, made at the age of 23), a fairly ordinary but
interestingly researched novel by Ronald Bassett, with a lot of phony
Freudian motivation, is transformed into a highly ornate, evocative, and
poetic study of violence, where the political disorganisation and
confusion of the war is mirrored by the chaos and superstition in men's
minds. The performances are generally excellent, and no film before or
since has used the British countryside in quite the same way.'
David Pirie
Here is the trailer.
You can read critic Robin Wood's famous 1970 Movie article on director Michael Reeves here.
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