Rent Witchhammer (1970)
3.9 of 5 from 75 ratings
1h 43min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- "Witchhammer" transforms the horrific tale of a notorious 17th Century witch trial into a powerful allegory of life under totalitarian rule. In a small Czech village, an investigation into a simple superstition unleashes a tide of hysteria and cruelty, as Inquisitors exorcise their own greed and lust through gruesome torture and execution. The beautiful, stark cinematography of Witchhammer echoes both Bergman and Dreyer, and like Ken Russell's The Devils and Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General, the film transcends horror to create a chilling political fable, revealing power to be the ultimate weapon of evil.
- Actors:
- Vladimír Smeral, Elo Romancik, Josef Kemr, Sona Valentová, Blanka Waleská, Lola Skrbková, Jirina Stepnicková, Marie Nademlejnská, Miriam Kantorková, Eduard Cupák, Martin Ruzek, Cestmír Randa, Ilja Prachar, Gustav Opocenský, Václav Lohniský, Blazena Holisová, Jaroslava Obermaierová, Stepán Zemánek, Jirí Holý, Lubor Tokos
- Directors:
- Otakar Vávra
- Writers:
- Václav Kaplický, Otakar Vávra, Ester Krumbachová
- Aka:
- Kladivo na carodejnice / Witches' Hammer
- Studio:
- SECOND RUN DVD
- Genres:
- Drama
- Collections:
- Top 10 Czech Films
- Countries:
- Czechoslovakia
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 30/10/2017
- Run Time:
- 107 minutes
- Languages:
- Czech LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- New and exclusive filmed appreciation by essayist and critic Kat Ellinger and film historian Michael Brooke
- The Light Penetrates the Dark (Svetlo pronika tmou, 1931) - Otakar Vavra's experimental short film
- World Premijere
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Reviews (1) of Witchhammer
Evil Has Excellent Admin - Witchhammer review by griggs
Evil has excellent admin. Trials, torture and executions unfold in stark black and white, and somewhere in the shadows a man is making sure the paperwork's in order.
It opens with a monk whispering about female wickedness over shots of naked women bathing, a whiff of titillation that curdles fast. The bigwigs soon discover that God's will matches their grudges with uncanny precision. The inquisitor Boblig smells money and gets to work.
The Stalinist show-trial allegory is clear. What got under my skin was the misogyny: men turning private prejudice into grounds for torture. A dissenting priest gives me someone to root for, and the slide into hysteria is horribly well handled. The women's faces had me thinking of Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. Those faces stay with me.
Some stretches get dry, and sitting through a trial occasionally becomes one. Still, Witchhammer makes most folk horror look like a village fete. The paperwork is immaculate. I may need a lie-down.
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