Dave S
It's always a bit surprising to stumble across what appears to be a low-budget movie with the American International Pictures studio logo attached to it that isn't a piece of crap. Surprisingly, Burn, Witch, Burn! is one of those movies. When a professor and skeptic (Peter Wyngarde) discovers that his wife (Janet Blair) is a witch, he does what any concerned skeptic would do – burn everything that even closely resembles something associated with the dark arts. Unfortunately for all involved, this unleashes a string of unfortunate occurrences, leading to mayhem and death. It's nowhere as dumb as it sounds, thanks to solid performances, a decent script, and a genuinely eerie atmosphere throughout. It's the kind of film that will be forgotten about the day after you watch it, but it's interesting enough to hold your interest for ninety minutes.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/07/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Based upon the 1943 Fritz Leiber novel Conjure Wife, this movie was called Day of the Eagle in the UK before getting a title that sounded more like a horror movie for American audiences. The book had already been adapted once before as Weird Woman in 1944 and then one more time afterward in 1979 as Witches' Brew.
The American version also has an opening in complete blackness where the voice of Paul Frees reads a spell intended to protect the audience from the evil within the film. Filmgoers also were given a special pack of salt and the words to an ancient incantation. Man, going to the movies used to be awesome. American-International Pictures knew how to sell an occult movie!
Written by a combination of Charles Beaumont (The Masque of the Red Death, several great Twilight Zone episodes), Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Duel) and George Baxt (Shadow of the Cat, The City of the Dead), this is the story of Norman Taylor (Peter Wyngarde, Klytus from Flash Gordon), a man who discovers that all of his career success is due to the magic skills of his wife. As soon as he demands that she burns all of her magical ephemera, everything in his life goes wrong
By the end of the movie, his rational view of the world must confront the fact that magic truly exists. It also posits that women are the magic workers of the world and that men just stumble through, a view I can completely agree with.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Adoro las cintas como Night of the Demon o esta Arde, Bruja, Arde, que juegan con la fina línea de la paranoia, elescepticismo, la superstición y la conspiranoia, hasta tal punto con incluso viendo lo paranormal bailando frente a nosotros, aun somos capaces de encontrar aspectos logicos en ella.
Por supuesto ayuda que las actuaciones estan mucho más a la altura de lo que una película como esta se suele merecer.
Además se consigue crear una historia oscura e interesante con poca parafernalia y trucaje, lo cual siempre es un más.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/29/23
Full Review
Audience Member
A superb horror film in all respects. It's got a wonderful creepy atmosphere which builds and builds and builds as the story progresses. The ending of this film is what really sticks with the viewer. "Burn, Witch, Burn" manages to build a lot of suspense along the way to it's impressive climax. It's creative cinematography and flip-flopping of traditional horror movie gender roles make it a unique movie experience. Intelligent English horror.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/14/23
Full Review
joel h
Burn, Witch, Burn feels like a 30-minute episode of Twilight Zone stretched into 90 minutes. There's a lot of unnecessary filler and repetitive plot points. It's an interesting concept, though, and there are some suspenseful moments. It just needed a stronger third act and it could have been something special.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
Audience Member
When I saw this movie was playing on the Comet channel, where the typical movie is um, not terribly well made, I thought this would be another such case. Happily though, I was wrong! Great film, full of suspense and visually a treat for the sixties. The twists keep coming along with the scares.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
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