Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm)

This is a late 1960s horror-ish British film about a man (Vincent Price) who supposedly sniffs out witches in the time of Cromwell. Typical of persecution stories, the witchfinder has abused his power and convinced others that he has the ability to determine who is a witch or not. Also common in films of this sort is the beautiful maid and her loyal beau, in this case he one of Cromwell's soldiers.


The maid's uncle has been accused of being a witch, but the witchfinder is not averse to allowing the girl to "convince" him with her beauty and body of her uncle's innocence. Most of the confessions though come after lots of torture. There are also some religious undertones to this persecution. When the witchfinder allows the uncle and girl to be tortured/killed, the beau finds out and seeks revenge at any cost.

The acting and production values (scene composition and music) are pretty good, even for the low, low £100,000 budget (costumes, lot of extras, location shooting, big name star, original score--they got their money's worth). Despite horror master Vincent Price as the villain, and the dvd re-released as part of a campy "Midnite Movies" line of films from MGM, it is not schlocky or played just for shock value, although there is torture, rape, drownings and hangings. There is suspense and drama, and not real horror as we are used to (except the horror of what these people must have gone through).

Although the character of the Witchfinder is a real historical character, what we know of him is sketchy. The film makes an effort to give the story some historical context with the tie-in to Cromwell and his Roundheads, and the King's wanting to wash away those who didn't agree with him.