The witches' death cry

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The witches' death cry
Original title Cry of the Banshee
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1970
length 91 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Gordon Hessler
script Tim Kelly
Christopher Wicking
production Samuel Z. Arkoff
Louis M. Heyward
music Les Baxter (US Version)
Wilfred Josephs (Director's Cut)
camera John Coquillon
occupation

The Death Cry of the Witches is a British horror film from 1970. The plot refers to the witch hunt towards the end of the Middle Ages . The werewolf mythology is also incorporated into the film plot.

action

The film is set in 16th century England . The plot describes Lord Edward Whitman's fight against pagan witches who threaten the country and his family.

Lord Whitman and his followers take every opportunity to track down (innocent) witches among the population and bring them to trial. Some of the followers of the witch Oona are brutally crushed, but Oona is left alive.

The witch Oona then places a curse on Lord Whitman's family. The prophecy "Death Will Attack Our House" by Lady Patricia, the Lord's Consort, continues. Wolves or rabid dogs howl around the country estate of the noble family at night in an incredibly threatening manner. Family members fear that the Whitman family is under a curse.

One of these nights, Sean, one of Lord Whitman's two sons, is bitten to death by a beast. Lord Whitman then instigates a driven hunt in the course of which the animal can be shot. At the ceremony taking place on the same evening, Lord Whitman speaks in a speech to his guests and states that it was not witchcraft, but only the rabid dog that was responsible for the death of his son. But his reassuring words fade away only a little later when his young wife Patricia, at the sight of the animal's head trophy, gives herself completely madly to the witch cult.

Lord Whitman is now doing everything possible to find the witch Oona, all the more so when Lady Patricia is murdered by the beast that same night, even in the house itself. The son of a foundling and stable boy Roderick, who has the ability to talk to animals, is also becoming increasingly eerie for the noble family.

The suspicion against Roderick is not unfounded. Father Tom and son Harry are able to find Oona, surrounded by some of their followers, and discover that she has the power to use voodoo sorcery to influence Roderick, who then transforms into a raging werewolf to defend the people Oona has given Killing Whitman family.

At the same time, Lord Whitman discovers his daughter Maureen, who has had a long relationship with Roderick, in bed with him, whereupon he has the stable boy chained in the basement. However, Maureen secretly goes to the basement and is attacked by Roderick, who has mutated into a werewolf and was able to tear himself away from the chains. At this moment, however, Harry succeeds in killing the witch Oona, so that Roderick (as a werewolf) also lets go of her.

Lord Whitman orders Maureen to lock herself in the basement for her own protection and not to open the door to anyone. At the same time, he instructs his servants to find Roderick and kill him. Roderick, again as a human, is in the house and can convince Maureen that Oona no longer has any power over him, so she opens the door to her hiding place for him. Only a little later, Roderick turns back into a werewolf. When he is in a fight with Lord Whitman, he is shot by Maureen.

Assuming that the curse has been turned on the family, Lord Whitman leaves the area with son Harry and Maureen in a carriage. First, however, Lord Whitman wants to look again at the Roderick kept in the coffin. But the coffin is empty, the curse has not been averted. When Lord Whitman climbs back into the carriage and drives off, he finds out that Harry and Maureen were also killed by the werewolf - Roderick is sitting in the front of the carriage.

Trivia

  • The film was first released in the United States on July 22, 1970.
  • The name of the British rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees was inspired by this film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Premiere dates on Internet Movie Database
  2. ↑ Steven Severin revealed this in an interview with The Bob magazine in December 1981