This was the last and greatest of the trio of films Michael Reeves directed before his untimely death in 1969. Though not a great commercial success at the time its reputation has only grown with time. Vincent Price who was foisted on Reeves by AIP's finance gives a tremendous performance of pure evil and this isn't a film for the fainthearted but it's one you remember.
Price is Matthew Hopkins, a true historical figure who operated as a witchfinder in East Anglia during the lawlessness that accompanied the English Civil War. With his equally sadistic henchman Stearne ( Robert Russell ) he finds witches in every village they ride through on the flimsiest of evidence , tortures and then executes them for money . When they eliminate a priest ( Rubert Davis ) and abuse his neice Sara they make a formidable enemy in a young Roundhead soldier, Richard Marshall ( Ian Ogilvy ).
Hilary Dwyer ( as Sara Lowes )
Sex : Sara has sex with Richard. She then sleeps with Hopkins to try and save her uncle. She is then raped by Stearne
Death : Survives
This was Hilary's first film and she so impressed AIP that she starred with Price in several subsequent films. She retired in the mid-seventies and helped her husband, Duncan Heath, run a talent agency. In the eighties , she began a new career as a film and TV producer which is ongoing. She is now 72.
Maggie Kimberly ( as Elisabeth )
Sex : No
Death : Executed by burning
This was Maggie's last film and it's a pretty thankless role to say the least
Margaret Nolan ( as Girl at Inn )
Sex : Stearne stuffs something down her cleavage
Death : Survives
Margaret was a former glamour model who managed to make a success of acting , mainly in comic roles exploiting her figure. She became a regular in the Carry On films of the early seventies. She retired in the early eighties but has returned to the public eye as a visual artist in the last decade and made an acting comeback in the 2011 film The Power of Three . She is now 73.
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