Witchfinder General (1968) #60sFlashback

Witchfinder General (1968) (aka The Conqueror Worm) is a collaboration between Tigon British Film Productions and American International Pictures. For the American release, AIP changed the name to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Conqueror Worm to link to other Corman/Poe movies they created. I’m not sure how brilliant that was since this has nothing to do with any of Poe’s stories and is based on Ronald Bassett’s historical fiction novel Witchfinder General.

The Witch Trials have never made sense to me. How does it make sense that they are a witch if they can swim or float? A lot of people can do these things. So then if they survived, they were hung. OK. So if they were a witch, then couldn’t they get out of the noose? Thank the celluloid gods that Monty Python went after this.

For the most part, Witchfinder General is boring, which is unexpected for AIP (maybe, that’s why they changed the name to add a little excitement). It’s more of a dark romance than horror or even thriller. Matthew Hopkins is a sadist and nothing more, and the one being controlled by Satan, and Vincent Price portraying him is dismal and sad. The saving grace is the screaming in the final scene; too little, too late.

I wouldn’t bother with this one, and I give it 2 out of 5 Stars.

#60sFlashback Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm) (1968) Click To Tweet