Hooptober... And Then There Were Nine

37th Kill

I prefer the title Burn, Witch, Burn, and surely the film-makers never intended to call this Night of the Eagle! Needlessly restrained, I say - not to mention a little oblique. People might think it's a movie about golf or something.

Ooh, yeah, this is a lovely little bit of slow burn "elevated horror" circa 1960's. There is no more venomous, dread-filled secret society than that of academics jostling for tenure - it's a wonder we don't get more incidents of statuary falling on professors roaming the grounds of higher learning institutions every year.

Love this cast too - no household names, but Peter Wyngarde will always be Klytus to me (what a third act twist that would have been if he came out of the Cornish night wearing black robes and that golden mask) and his voice is one of the greatest in entertainment history. I was totally unfamiliar with Janet Blair but I loved her wild-eyed face-acting - she looks a bit like a housewifey Carey Mulligan, but into black magic (just as a point of difference, because last I heard, Carey Mulligan wasn't a practicing voodoo priestess - then again, she'd deny it, wouldn't she?)

It's a bit of a slow burn (witch, burn) but that way the meat just falls off the bone. That's a little gruesome - in truth, this is not that kind of horror movie at all, but it's packed with oodles of atmosphere, with all those picturesque English countryside locations, including some great stuff on the craggy windswept coast around Land's End - the perfect liminal space for this tale of eldritch powers beyond the world of logic and reason we think we have mastered and tamed.

Best Kill (may contain traces of spoiler)

That eagle isn't in the movie much but it sure looks heavy.