by A.J.
Night 5: Serial Killer Night II
“Why did she come out of the sea?”
I must admit that I was completely unaware of The Witch Who Came From the Sea before coming across it randomly on the streaming site Tubi and was only interested because of the outrageous title. I was more than surprised by what I saw. This low budget proto-slasher film from 1976 qualifies as a horror movie because of its bloody violence and cerebral imagery. However, two more things separate and even elevate this movie from other serial killer and slasher movies. The first and most obvious: it flips the gender of the killer, so the psychologically damaged killer is a woman. The second: the screenplay focuses on the troubled emotional and psychological state of the killer, turning this would be exploitation movie into a compelling character study, even though the psychology is fairly basic.
Millie Perkins stars as Molly, an average working class woman who lives by the sea. She adores her two nephews and despises how few “heroes” there are for young boys. She idolizes her deceased father, but remarks from her sister hint at a less than ideal father. Disturbing flashbacks reveal his true abusive relationship with Molly.
By 1976 there had already been many films, especially Italian giallos (mystery films) that, inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho, were about a killer who was driven to kill their intense and conflicted feelings of attraction and repulsion to women stemming from abuse suffered as a child. Molly is driven by the same conflict but from the perspective of a female character it feels fresh and revealing. The screenplay by Robert Thom provides a great showcase for the talents and skills of Millie Perkins, Thom’s wife at the time, by making Molly a multifaceted character who draws our sympathy or at least our understanding as she murders.
To be sure, this was created as an exploitation movie. There is a lot of sex and nudity and violence; though not all of the sex and nudity is sexy and not all of the violence is sensational or fun. Molly seduces two very muscular football players and drugs them. One passes out. She ties down the other and he realizes too late this is not a sexual game and he is in trouble. She grabs at his Achilles tendon and fretting over having only a small safety razor and complains, “this is going to take forever.” There is some squirting blood but most of the violence is off screen and we are thankful for it.
There is also humor too: intentional, unintentional, and awkward. The oddball tattoo artist Jack Dracula reveals that people call him that because that’s his real name. The opening sequence has Molly with her nephews at the beach but she is distracted by ultra muscular men exercising nearby. The camera cuts to close ups of their speedo clad bulges then back to Molly in the throws of desire and disgust. This movie isn’t afraid to turn on a dime from humor to horror.
The stylistic choices by director Matt Climber pay great attention to Molly’s complex emotional and psychological state. In one scene, a handsome mostly nude man in a TV commercial talks directly to her. There are flashes shown in psychedelic colors of a woman tied to a stake on a raft adrift at sea with dismembered body parts all around her. These surreal touches are captivating and put you in the same bewildered headspace as Molly.
The psychology is simple, perhaps even too simple by even a common understanding today, but unlike slasher movies before or since, this movie cares about its antihero/killer protagonist. Her backstory and past abuse and trauma are more than just an excuse for murder. This movie cares more about Molly’s peace of mind than sensational kills. The ending, like the rest of the movie , is unconventional for the genre, but it is fitting for this story and character.
The Witch Who Came From the Sea is available to stream for free on Tubi.
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