Matthew Hopkins - Witchfinder General

Matthew Hopkins - Witchfinder General

For quite some time the Region 2 DVD market has been under a certain amount of fire from the global DVD community, criticism of both censorship (which is understandable) and the quality of DVD product coming out of the UK in particular. Last year when BBFC tyrant James Ferman thankfully handed over his cap a whole new set of review policies came into play. Here at SGM we quickly picked up on exactly what this would mean for the future of horror censorship here (see our Spotlight piece on the subject) and things to an extent looked promising. But still we were getting limited quality product on the shelves for our delectation, that was until now...

Metrodome (and a few others) in recent months have been making a concerted effort to deliver quality packages to collectors in Region 2 land, and with the release of their Special Edition DVD of Michael Reeves seminal classic 'Witchfinder General' the UK DVD has came into form!

Now I'd be very surprised if many of you out there haven't seen this film yet. It really was one of those horror movies that was part of the growing up process for most genre fans, with late night screenings of the film turning up on network television on a regular basis (much like the old Universal horrors and the Hammer line) twisting young enthusiastic minds into the horror fans that we are today.

The films plot is a simple snapshot of the manipulating evil doings of travelling Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins. It's 1645 and rural England is consumed by a civil war between the foot armies of the royalists and the parliamentary opposition. In the midst of the disharmony Hopkins and his thuggish sidekick travel around the countryside visiting yokel villages to purge them of any alleged witches or followers of the dark side (and pick up some payment in silver and the company of wenches for their services of course). Inevitably many innocent villagers are tortured, drowned and hanged in the name of the lord to appease the masses and line Hopkins ever-greedy paws.

Along the way a local priest is pinpointed by spiteful villagers as an evil one, so Hopkins takes him in for his special brand of treatment but soon puts the torture on hold when the poor priest's adopted niece offers herself to Hopkins as a sacrificial sex toy to delay her Uncle's fate. Things don't go to plan though (hey do they ever?!) and it's up to the poor niece's soldier husband to be to take control.

'Witchfinder General' is one of the horror greats, simplistic in scenario but full of cinematic charisma that should please fans of the genre both young and old. Reeves direction is very impressive throughout and whilst the film has a lovely nostalgic feel, it also has a welcome modern edge (for the time) with its sadistic slant and atmosphere that many new filmmakers should take note. Vincent Price is splendid in the main role of Hopkins delivering his lines with a conviction that would make you think the role had been written for him (although he wasn't in fact the first choice for the part). Ian Ogilvy is decent enough in his role giving a solid enough lead 'hero' delivery, though the same could be said of many of his similar deliveries in other genre productions (and the Saint TV show too for that matter!)

The aforementioned sadistic slant adds an extra punch to the movie although by todays standards some may consider not too graphic it is the mix of torture and nudity that makes a somewhat welcome mix to the films atmosphere. And a key element to this particular DVD release is the careful and detailed presentation that the film has received that should add to many horror fans pleasure.

First off, there are two variant prints of the film contained on the disc - the Export and Directors cut versions. The Export print being the slightly stronger of the two as this is the edit made for the market outside the UK, for a consumer that found nudity and blood more palatable than the UK's BBFC could handle. The Directors cut is just that, whilst being an uncut print! Now there is inevitably going to be some disgruntled debate about the print quality on show (and already I've heard some non-horror fan site grumblings) but I don't feel they're truly justified. The film is presented in anarmorphic widescreen and I've never seen it look so good. In general the image is very sharp and very vibrant with only the occasional minor print damage on show, but where the image does have some drop in quality is where the previously excised frames of additional depravity have been restored (ala Anchor Bay's 'Wicker Man' restoration). Basically this is a few frames here and there during some of the more graphic scenes where the master shows some minor washed out quality. Is this a problem? Perhaps for mainstream non-genre fans but for horror movie fans no! For the first time ever (thanks to the sterling and admirable work by Marc Morris) we've been presented with what is a near perfect presentation of this classic film. The image in the main is fantastic and we've two options of watching branching variant prints of the film fully uncut on DVD for a very reasonable price.

Add to this the fact that we have a great selection of extras, there really shouldn't be grounds for complaint. Extras wise there's an excellent short documentary 'Blood Beast' which has been licensed from Pete Tombs/Channel Four's previously broadcast on the films of Michael Reeves, there's trailers for both 'Witchfinder General' and 'The Sorcerers' (again with Ian Ogilvy in the lead role). New generation horror fans will be pleased to see the addition of metal band Cathedral's 'Matthew Hopkins' music video (featuring the old Redemption stalwart and vampire queen Eileen Daly) and there's extensive film notes by old school genre critic Kim Newman (and very detailed they are too!) Extensive is also the order of the day with the loaded stills galleries (which have some gorgeous stills within) and the standard bio/filmographies pages are present too.

Whilst I have always loved 'Witchfinder General' as a horror movie (and this presentation is all you could ever dream of and some), this package as a whole is simply stunning. Metrodome's DVD gives any US Special Edition a run for their money and the competitive warnings have now been sent out here from the UK to our US counterparts (like Anchor Bay et al). The great thing about this is that as the stakes have been raised we horror fans are the winners now all over. An absolute classic of the genre and a simply essential DVD purchase - buy it now!

Review by Alan Simpson


 
Released by Metrodome
Rated 18 - Region 2 PAL (not Region 0 as stated on the packaging)
Running time - approx 82 mins
Ratio - anarmorphic widescreen
Audio - 2.0 mono
Extras :
'Blood Beast' documentary, Theatrical Trailer, 'The Sorcerers' trailer, 'Cathedral' music video, Film Notes by Kim Newman, Stills gallery, Filmographies.
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