Devils Of Darkness / Witchcraft

Devils Of Darkness / Witchcraft
by Don Sharp, Lance Comfort

Devils Of Darkness / Witchcraft
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $13.49
You Save: $1.49 (10%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $7.55 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: David Weston, Diane Clare, Jack Hedley, Jill Dixon, Lon Chaney Jr.
Director: Don Sharp, Lance Comfort
Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
Cinematographer: Arthur Lavis
Producer: Jack Parsons
Producer: Robert L. Lippert
Producer: Tom Blakeley
Writer: Harry Spalding
Writer: Lyn Fairhurst
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: French (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 203 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-09-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox

DVD Reviews of Devils Of Darkness / Witchcraft

DVD Review: Brit-cult double feature - not bad
Summary: 3 Stars

A couple of OK British occult thrillers here. DEVILS pits American tourist William Sylvester against the ancient French satanist "Count Sinestre" (Hubert Noel) in for possession of the latter's magical talisman, which has fallen into Sylvester's hands. Despite the dark trappings, the whole affair has the Eastmancolor punch of one of the better AIP Beach Party Movies. Reds aren't just red, baby, they're RED! This finds a superior companion in WITCHCRAFT, an atmospheric black & white shocker about an centuries-old rivalry between two British families renewed when one family plans a major redevelopment of the village and razes the other family's ancient graveyard as one of their first priorities, causing its long-dead matriarch (an impressive Yvette Rees) to rise from her grave for payback alongside her devil-worshipping descendants, led by Lon Chaney Jr. Great stuff.

DVD Review: Maybe this was when Van Morrison saw Lon Chaney Jr walking with the Queen?
Summary: 3 Stars

Witchcraft (1964) This is a pretty good little scareflick from Great Britain which gave Lon Chaney Jr. his last quality horror hurrah before he slid into junk like Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors. Lon plays Morgan Whitlock, the elder paterfamilias of a family descended from a witch named Vanessa. When a construction project buys out the land Chaney's family has been buried in for centuries, Lon gets plenty upset and refuses to have the remains moved. The more unscrupulous business partner desecrates the graves, and wouldn't you just know it? A mysterious woman suddenly pops up at the Whitlock house, and shortly after people start dying in bizarre accidents. This is old school horror, with no gore, but some good chills. Lon is in fine form, though he attempts no British accent and so stands out a bit among the British cast, all of whom are solid if not familiar (the male lead (Jack Hedley) was in For Your Eyes Only 17 years later). Still in all, it's good to see one of the old horror greats in something with some production value, and it's too bad Lon couldn't have gone out on a note like this 9 years later instead of Dracula vs Frankenstein. Check this one out!

DVD Review: Horror Movies
Summary: 3 Stars

OK, let's be honest. You don't expect low-budget horror movies to be all that good, and they're not. We've all seen the Hammer studios films from the 50's and 60's. No surprises here. Still, there are times when it's fun to just curl up in front of the television with some microwave popcorn and enjoy a late night horror show. These are fairly good examples of the genre. Want a really scary movie? Watch "The Changeling" with George C. Scott. I felt I got my money's worth on these though.

DVD Review: all dressed up, but dead, or close enough
Summary: 5 Stars

devils of darkness: impeccably dressed french fop undead. EVERYONE is dressed to kill ... it's fashion to undie for. best bright-red-lipstick film ever! ps: forces of evil no match for a guy who's good with his fists.

DVD Review: Arresting visuals make for zesty vampire offering.
Summary: 3 Stars


Much better than often reported, this beautifully photographed British horror is a well upholstered turn down the familiar vampire path, enlivened by some delicious tongue in cheek. Directed by cult director Lance Comfort, (see Brian MacFarlane's monograph on his career) the film opens with a dazzling dance sequence set amidst a mid forest gypsy encampment, interrupted by the first burst of horror--accompanied by a swooping bat and a gust of wind.

These forest sequences are visually arresting, and include an eerie torch light parade photographed in reflection from a lake's surface.

As for the story, it concerns a modern day male vampire, (equipped with Louis Jourdan accent and beautifully cut suits) who turns out to be reincarnated from the ancient past.

Despite some dull detective sequences, (of the type that slow down Bava's "Blood and Black Lace") the picture manages an effective array of diverse settings including forest sequences, a country manor house, a catacomb lair, a jammed to the rafters antique shoppe, an artists' atelier, the reading room of the British Museum and a groovy bachelorette pad that is host to one of the screen's all time campiest cocktail parties.

Indeed, this sequence, replete with the Watusi, and Frug, and featuring an array of cigarette puffing (with holders!) extras that seem to have been recruited between takes from the sets of "Darling" and "A Taste of Honey", (one keeps looking for Julie Christie to appear) is guaranteed to elicit howls. And if that doesn't catch you, please note that Diana Decker's wardrobe had the female audience cooing at a recent screening.

Moreover, the climax, featuring a cave in which destroys the vampire clan, is well staged and shot.

Picture seems influenced by Don Sharp's superb "Kiss of the Vampire," and while it doesn't hold a candle to that stellar feather in Hammer's cap, it does emerge as an interesting and zesty contemporary take on the same theme.

Description of Devils Of Darkness / Witchcraft

Disc 1:Devils of Darkness (1965) Disc 2:Witchcraft (B&W) (1964)

French DVDs

DVD Video
Bestsellers in French DVDs
Blood Diamond (Widescreen Edition) ImageBlood Diamond (Widescreen Edition)
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-03-20; DVD
Best price: $4.29
Price in other shops: $14.98
Inside (Unrated) ImageInside (Unrated)
WELLSPRING/GENIUS; Release date: 2008-04-15; DVD
Best price: $4.02
Price in other shops: $19.97
Persepolis ImagePersepolis
Sony; Release date: 2008-06-24; DVD
Best price: $13.45
Price in other shops: $29.95
Jean De Florette / Manon of the Spring (MGM World Films) ImageJean De Florette / Manon of the Spring (MGM World Films)
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-07-24; Published: 1987; DVD
Best price: $12.21
Price in other shops: $19.98
The Red Balloon (Released by Janus Films, in association with the Criterion Collection) ImageThe Red Balloon (Released by Janus Films, in association with the Criterion Collection)
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2008-04-29; DVD
Best price: $7.69
Price in other shops: $14.95
The 400 Blows [Blu-ray] ImageThe 400 Blows [Blu-ray]
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2009-03-24; DVD
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops: $39.95
I've Loved You So Long ImageI've Loved You So Long
Sony; Release date: 2009-03-03; DVD
Best price: $15.01
Price in other shops: $28.96
Amelie ImageAmelie
TAUTOU,AUDREY; Release date: 2002-07-16; DVD
Best price: $11.17
Price in other shops: $19.99
Wages of Fear [Blu-ray] - Criterion Collection ImageWages of Fear [Blu-ray] - Criterion Collection
Release date: 2009-04-21; DVD
Best price: $24.37
Price in other shops: $39.95
Martyrs ImageMartyrs
Release date: 2009-04-28; DVD
Best price: $13.95
Price in other shops: $19.97
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
From Beyond the Grave ImageFrom Beyond the Grave
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-09-25; DVD
Best price: $7.21
Price in other shops: $14.98
Fox Horror Classics Collection (The Lodger / Hangover Square / The Undying Monster) ImageFox Horror Classics Collection (The Lodger / Hangover Square / The Undying Monster)
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-10-09; DVD
Best price: $16.68
Price in other shops: $26.98
Gorilla at Large/Mystery on Monster Island ImageGorilla at Large/ Mystery on Monster Island
Unknown; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $7.59
Price in other shops: $14.98
Blueprint For Murder / Man In the Attic ImageBlueprint For Murder / Man In the Attic
Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $5.04
Price in other shops: $9.98
Phantom from 10,000 Leagues/The Beast with a Million Eyes ImagePhantom from 10,000 Leagues/ The Beast with a Million Eyes
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops: $9.98
Witchfinder General ImageWitchfinder General
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $7.65
Price in other shops: $14.98
Chosen Survivors / The Earth Dies Screaming ImageChosen Survivors / The Earth Dies Screaming
Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $7.48
Price in other shops: $14.98
The House on Skull Mountain / The Mephisto Waltz ImageThe House on Skull Mountain / The Mephisto Waltz
Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $7.56
Price in other shops: $14.98
The Return of Dracula/The Vampire ImageThe Return of Dracula/ The Vampire
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops: $9.98
Tales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror (Double Feature) ImageTales From the Crypt / Vault of Horror (Double Feature)
Twentieth Century Fox; Release date: 2007-09-11; DVD
Best price: $6.74
Price in other shops: $14.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners