This 1970 movie is a dramatised documentary on the cult and practice of witchcraft since pre-Christian times in Britain. Featuring tales of Pagan gods and goddesses mingling with artful landscape shots, pictures of wildlife, Stonehenge and other images, narrated in typically 1970s droning voice over by Guy Standeven, it tries to sell itself as a serious investigation into witchcraft in the modern world, but is just an excuse for copious amounts of female nudity. The whole thing just comes across as a titillating exploitation flick (director Malcolm Leigh went on to make the British Sex film, Games that Lovers Play in 1971), and is a really slow paced film which is pretty boring despite its far out subject matter. It does however feature a pretty mesmerising soundtrack which changes intensity throughout the film, and is also notable for including the only known footage of Alex Sanders, dubbed the King of Wicca.

Something witchy this way comes, in the form of a documentary about witchcraft in the British Isles. It features much footage of ceremonies and the like. Its kind of like a newer version of the silent doc Haxan, only not as good. On the one hand its quite fascinating and visually well shot but on the other hand its really quite boring as well, with the lack of synchronised sound being a core reason for this. A definite curiosity piece though but whether you like it is another matter entirely.

Halloween viewing and surprisingly effective it turned out to be. As excited children could be heard squealing on the streets outside this by contrast was a creepy and somber affair painting a most believable picture of witchcraft through the ages. There is much speculation about a 113 minute version but whilst there is no evidence to support this, the recent BFI Blu-ray set contains an 85 minute film which is considerably longer than the IMDb 70 minute quote and likely to be the full length. I imagine the shorter version is that which went briefly on general release because watching this I was amazed at the extent of the explicit nature of the content. I was also most impressed with the camera work throughout. From the misty sunrise opening and moon across the water to the naked rituals and more this was eye opening stuff indeed. Particularly pleased to see the Witchcraft museum in Boscastle featured as I remember my father donating much material there in his later years. Fabulous view and can't wait to watch the accompanying short and numerous extras.