Video Nasty #26 : The Witch Who Came From The Sea

Synopsis: Molly is not well. Struggling to come to terms with her horrific upbringing, she has developed an alternate personality that avenges her Father's despicable crimes by seducing, castrating and killing men. As her memory's protective facade begins to drop Molly must face the truth of her childhood and unconscious revenge.

One of the most interesting and disorientating aspects of watching an obscure film from the early 70's (and i've done this a lot recently) is that one rarely has any realistic preconceptions. Other than the title, video cover and promise of something potentially offensive, it's difficult to know what to expect. The Witch Who Came From The Sea is the epitome of not judging a film by its cover. The title, pulp video cover and tag line ('Molly really knows how to cut men down to size!!') suggests camp horror, when the film is actually a slow paced character study exploring the psychological scars of child sex abuse, the title begin derived from the main character's obsession with a mermaid. Watching the film was akin to entering a ghost house and the train immediately stopping in a large lecture theatre where the riders are subjected to a two hour lecture from captain smug himself, Richard Dawkins - I could stomach the lecture, but I really just wanted rubber skeletons and bats on strings.

Sexual abuse is a difficult subjet to tackle in a (predominantly) entertainment medium. It's something that many other films on the list have approached with blood-tinted exploitation glasses, their slightly off-hand dealing with the subject leaving me more than a little sour. Thankfully the The Witch... doesn't trivilise the subject, painting a subtle portrait of a woman in denial.

Molly has rewritten her childhood, believing her perfect father is lost at sea and one day may return. Her need to accept this fantasy is reinforced by her less than supportive sister ('You could be a top waitress, even a bunny if you put your mind to it'), the constant presence of her beloved nephews and all them men in her life being part-time misogynists. In moments of clarity Molly has flashbacks of her father's dispicable acts, soundtracked by the white noise of waves crashing, a reminder of the sea that has, in her mind, taken her father and childhood.

As the frequency and intensity of Molly's flashbacks increase so does her alternate personality's appearances and more men, as the tagline has it, are cut down to size. Every girl remembers her first castration, and Molly's is a doozy, luring two major league footballers to a hotel room, tying them up and administering some permanent contraception. Aside from the scene being rendered almost unintelligible by heavy 'we're all stoned' reverb, It's difficult to believe that the rather plain looking Molly managed to seduce the two men, let alone the film star she seduces later (unsurprisingly Millie Perkins, who plays Molly, was married to the writer). Despite the relatively graphic scenes of violence, I suspect the film earned its blacklisting due to the horribly effective scenes of child abuse. The haunting image of a grown man's legs grinding on top of child's in bed is deeply unpleasant, but how can child abuse be anything but?

I feel the biggest problem with The Witch... is the dichotomy of it trying to be both a gory horror film and an earnest character piece. I couldn't warm to Molly, and aside from a very silly fantasy sequence of bodybuilders being violently contorted around their gym gear, there was very little in the way of the silliness promised by the title, cover and tagline. The film's biggest failure is its final emotionally charged scenes, which falls completely flat because I really couldn't care about the tortured lead. Despite its flaws, The Witch... has soul, which is a rare quality for films on the list. As Mr E. would say, it's a beautiful freak.