13 Nights of Shocktober: Witchfinder General

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some scary movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 7: Vincent Price Night
“They swim. The mark of Satan is upon them. They must hang.”

Witchfinder General 

Vincent Price played villains and antiheros throughout his career, but he never played a character as evil as Matthew Hopkins, also known as the Witchfinder General. Matthew Hopkins and his assistant/enforcer John Stearne were real people that traveled from town to town during the time of the English Civil War offering to root out any witches, for a fee, of course. Hopkins declared himself “Witchfinder General” and during his reign of terror from 1644-1647 he was responsible for more executions of accused witches than all other witch hunters in England over the previous 100 years combined. It only makes sense that a movie about Hopkins would be a dark and violent one.

Though Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne are historical figures, Witchfinder General is not technically based on a true story. The source material is a novel by Ronald Bassett which fictionalizes the story of Matthew Hopkins. The plot follows Richard (Ian Ogilvy), a soldier in Oliver Cromwell’s army, rooting out remnants of the royalist supporters of King Charles. He is engaged to Sara (Hilary Heath), who, along with her uncle, is targeted by local Cromwell supporters. Hopkins and Stearne ride into town and arrest her uncle as a witch. Hopkins tells Sara that he will spare her uncle’s life for a lascivious price. Hopkins also tortures and executes other innocent people while holding Sara prisoner. After learning what has happened to Sarah, Richard becomes obsessed with taking revenge.

The details of the plot are fictionalized, but the means of torture used by Hopkins and his desire for personal and political gain are unfortunately accurate. Vincent Price gives an unsettling but excellent performance as Matthew Hopkins. Director Michael Reeves wanted Donald Pleasance to play the Witchfinder and was reportedly standoffish with Price. Reeves claimed he acted that way intentionally to get Price to give an angry performance. Personally, I think Vincent Price was professional enough and talented enough to give a great performance without the director intentionally pissing him off. Price comes across as the kind of actor that could pick up on the exact tone and needs of a film and deliver a performance to match. He could go over the top, or be subtle and nuanced with ease. As a villain, he could be comedic, campy, sinister, or even sympathetic, but as Hopkins he is completely vile, cruel, sadistic, and malevolent. Though he played murderers in movies before and after this, Matthew Hopkins is Price’s most heinous role.

Witchfinder General feels more violent than it actually is. In terms of blood and gore it is mild by today’s standards, but its violent moments feel as intense and shocking as anything from a more explicit modern horror movie. Even though the scenes of torture were edited to satisfy the British censors, it still received an X rating and caused controversy when released. The reason this film feels so brutal is because it does not shy away from showing the methods of conducting a witch “trial.” Sara’s uncle is stabbed with a needle repeatedly to search for a spot that doesn’t bleed (a sign of witchcraft). A group of poor villagers are thrown into a river to see if they will swim (also a sign of witchcraft). People are dragged screaming to the gallows or burned at the stake. The film also doesn’t shy away from showing the witchfinders as sexual predators as well.

Reeves said he wanted to make an antiviolence film, which is usually just an excuse for showing a lot of violence, but it’s likely Reeves was sincere because there is nothing entertaining or thrilling about the violent scenes in Witchfinder General. This is a very dark movie thematically but it is also a very good one. And, of course, it has one of Vincent Price’s best performances. This is a horror movie without the slightest hint of the supernatural, but it is just as intense as any monster movie or ghost story.