The Witches (DVD)

'60's British B-movie chiller featuring voodoo, the supernatural and general dark arts. A comely young British teacher takes up a remote posting in darkest Africa where the local juju man lays a hex on her. She has a breakdown and is forced to return to the UK. There, she takes up a post at a rural school where all appears well on the surface. It turns out, however, that the place is a hotbed of witchery and darkness and that a virgin sacrifice is planned for the near future. The film was directed by Cyril Frankel, who'd made Hammer's 1960 child abuse drama 'Never Take Sweets From a Stranger', and the script was by Quatermass author Nigel Kneale. Their depiction of sinister undercurrents in a pastoral setting wasn't sinister enough for the BBFC, however, who only granted the film an 'A' certificate. Hammer persuaded them to reconsider, but this accomplished film still failed to find an audience.