Witchfinder General (1968)

In the United States this was titled Edgar Allen Poe’s The Conqueror Worm. Don’t let that fool you, this is not based on anything written by Poe, that was just an advertising gimmick to lure viewers into seeing Vincent Price who had been in a series of Poe films already. This one is based on a novel by Ronald Bassett and while more of a historical novel the story is as much a horror story as you can imagine. Director Michael Reeves ups the violence and pushes Mr. Price into giving one of his best performances as a complex psychopath named Matthew Hopkins making money killing people accused of being witches. The hero of our tale is a soldier played by Ian Ogilvy who sets out to avenge Hopkins for killing a friend and raping his wife, played by the beautiful Hilary Dwyer. While some of the zooms let us know this was made in the sixties, it’s actually a very good film. It’s too bad Michael Reeves died after making this and never made another film. He showed a lot of promise. Grade: A-