If your looking for a good horror film to view on a rainy night than you definitely want to check this out. Not only is it well made but the acting is very good with some genuinely spooky moments. Story is about a college professor named Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde) who's career and life couldn't be better or happier but one day he discovers that his wife Tansy (Janet Blair) is a practicing witch. He forces her to burn everything that she uses but she pleads that it's for their protection. She warns her husband that evil forces are around and trying to ruin them and maybe even kill them.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
The very next day Norman's life seems to be different as he is accused of sexual misconduct by one of his students and then her boyfriend pulls a gun and threatens him. Tansy feels the evil forces closing in around them and she decides to give her life in order for her husband to be saved but he tracks her down and brings her home. Norman then understands that fellow colleague Flora (Margaret Johnston) is behind the evil curses as she is jealous of his professional standing at the college.
This film is directed by Sidney Hayers who would go on to be one of the most popular and reliable television directors that Hollywood ever used. This is a low budget effort from AIP and Samuel Arkoff but with the English setting it plays like something from Hammer Studios. The acting is very good and Blair is solid as the wife trying to convince her husband that black magic does exist. She has good chemistry with Wyngarde which is an achievement considering that Wyngarde was gay in real life and had a difficult time convincing Hayers that he would be good in the role. He was right and his character certainly comes to life when he searches for Blair after learning that she is going to kill herself. But there would be no film without Johnston as the limping and gazing Flora. To say her character epitomizes evil is an understatement and who can forget the scene where she talks to Wyngarde in her office with her face hovering over a lamp with that devilish sneer? I'm not convinced that the film needed the scenes with the giant eagle and I would have enjoyed this just as much if those had been omitted in the final edit. If your a fan of films dealing with the supernatural than look no further because this is a well made chiller.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
The very next day Norman's life seems to be different as he is accused of sexual misconduct by one of his students and then her boyfriend pulls a gun and threatens him. Tansy feels the evil forces closing in around them and she decides to give her life in order for her husband to be saved but he tracks her down and brings her home. Norman then understands that fellow colleague Flora (Margaret Johnston) is behind the evil curses as she is jealous of his professional standing at the college.
This film is directed by Sidney Hayers who would go on to be one of the most popular and reliable television directors that Hollywood ever used. This is a low budget effort from AIP and Samuel Arkoff but with the English setting it plays like something from Hammer Studios. The acting is very good and Blair is solid as the wife trying to convince her husband that black magic does exist. She has good chemistry with Wyngarde which is an achievement considering that Wyngarde was gay in real life and had a difficult time convincing Hayers that he would be good in the role. He was right and his character certainly comes to life when he searches for Blair after learning that she is going to kill herself. But there would be no film without Johnston as the limping and gazing Flora. To say her character epitomizes evil is an understatement and who can forget the scene where she talks to Wyngarde in her office with her face hovering over a lamp with that devilish sneer? I'm not convinced that the film needed the scenes with the giant eagle and I would have enjoyed this just as much if those had been omitted in the final edit. If your a fan of films dealing with the supernatural than look no further because this is a well made chiller.