Starring Vincent Price, Essy Persson, Hilary Dwyer, Carl Rigg, Stephan Chase
Directed by Gordon Hessler
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
After a cruel British lord attacks her coven, a witch places a curse upon him and his family, who are one-by-one brutally hunted down by a vicious were-beast.
The film offers an unpleasant story with unpleasant characters, particularly among the males of the Whitman family, who are out to stamp out paganism in the name of the Church and the State, subjecting suspected witches to torture and death. The more hedonistic of the sons is also out to violate the young women he fancies among the suspects, as well as his own stepmother who reviles the family's cruelties. Price reigns over all the savageness as Lord Edward Whitman in an effective performance, although he has less screen time than some of his co-stars, but I can't say I particularly relished his performance or the others in the film. I know the film depicts a very bloody period in history, and the onscreen shocks are in keeping with that, but although the art direction is convincing in establishing the story and its period, I found myself unable to enjoy what was transpiring. The film does have a hero of sorts, the Whitmans' servant Roderick, played by Patrick Mower, faithful to his masters, while having sexual dalliances with the lone Whitman daughter. His talent for calming animals is taken advantage of by Elisabeth Bergner's queen witch Oona, who turns him into an instrument of revenge. Despite the title, there is no "banshee," which would have enhanced the film in my opinion with a unique makeup and a strong actress to go with it, settling for a more conventional monster, (although credited with a banshee cry), which we hardly see. According to film historian Troy Howarth, a different edited version of the film was released which dumped famed animator Terry Gilliam's main title sequence, as well as the original score, and several shots including nudity.
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