I was half-expecting this to be even worse than THE BODY STEALERS (1969) and, my viewing of it, certainly proved my fears right! This one's the pits: the title promises nudity and scares (or at least diabolism) - it provides the former in spades, though none of it is erotic, but the latter is only present, if so it can be called, in some silly late-night rituals with nude dancing en masse of old and young witches alike!
Tigon only distributed the film and, really, there are no redeeming features to this low-brow venture - whose director was actually an English aristocrat! The premise offers no surprises whatsoever and, in fact, here again we have sisters as the leading characters - one virtuous, one wicked (around this same time, Hammer Films made TWINS OF EVIL [1971] - which were played by Maltese actresses, by the way - and which, alas, I've never watched!). The other characters are stereotypes and the only one who provides any interest is Patricia Haines (formerly Mrs. Michael Caine and who died, at a fairly young age, only a few years later!) as the lesbian High Priestess of the coven.
Perhaps the most hilarious scenes are the afore-mentioned rites, Ann Michelle's photo sessions (a modeling agency serves as a front for the coven) and especially when she, a newly-inducted witch, puts a spell on her rival Haines - having suddenly become an expert in the occult merely by reading a book on the subject (Michelle burns a photograph of Haines, and we see the latter's expression in it change gradually to reflect the pain she goes through!). The film was actually shot in 1970 but the BBFC refused it a certificate - realizing, perhaps, that it was pure exploitation and not really a horror film at all; in fact, it only got released when the producers took the film to the apparently more lenient censor boards of individual towns, after which the BBFC relented!
Tigon only distributed the film and, really, there are no redeeming features to this low-brow venture - whose director was actually an English aristocrat! The premise offers no surprises whatsoever and, in fact, here again we have sisters as the leading characters - one virtuous, one wicked (around this same time, Hammer Films made TWINS OF EVIL [1971] - which were played by Maltese actresses, by the way - and which, alas, I've never watched!). The other characters are stereotypes and the only one who provides any interest is Patricia Haines (formerly Mrs. Michael Caine and who died, at a fairly young age, only a few years later!) as the lesbian High Priestess of the coven.
Perhaps the most hilarious scenes are the afore-mentioned rites, Ann Michelle's photo sessions (a modeling agency serves as a front for the coven) and especially when she, a newly-inducted witch, puts a spell on her rival Haines - having suddenly become an expert in the occult merely by reading a book on the subject (Michelle burns a photograph of Haines, and we see the latter's expression in it change gradually to reflect the pain she goes through!). The film was actually shot in 1970 but the BBFC refused it a certificate - realizing, perhaps, that it was pure exploitation and not really a horror film at all; in fact, it only got released when the producers took the film to the apparently more lenient censor boards of individual towns, after which the BBFC relented!