Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

The Witch Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 16, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Gothic Fantastico: Four Italian Tales of Terror.

This is the time of year when spookiness is almost literally in the air, but it may also be an appropriate time to consult any number of experts prone to helping identify genres, at least for those who may be interested in battening down exactly what this or that generic term might refer to. The recently reviewed megaset from Severin All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror spent a good deal of time in both an accompanying documentary as well as several commentary tracks trying to define exactly what "folk horror" might or might not be, with some fairly divergent opinions emerging, but perhaps thankfully, there seems to be at least a bit more consensus about what constitutes so-called "gothic horror". In that regard, Mark Thompson Ashworth provides introductions for the four films Arrow has aggregated for the Gothic Fantastico set, and in one of them he cites Touchstones of Gothic Horror, a book by David Huckvale which lists tropes like staircases, storms, ruins, heaving cleavage and ornate coffins, most of which at least are on display in this quartet at various times.

One of the odder, maybe even phantasmagorical, entries in the All the Haunts Be Ours collection was the completely peculiar and hallucinatory A Field in England, and in some ways The Witch might be considered its analog in the Gothic Fantastico set. With a narrative that is deliberately fractured, at least in part to offer a compelling portrait of a man suffering some disquieting events, as well as a presentational ethos that can be both sinister and dreamlike in about equal measure, The Witch can definitely be accused of emphasizing style over substance, but that's not to suggest there isn't any substance in the tale of a man named Sergio (Richard Johnson) who may be interacting with a woman with a "particular set of (magical) skills".

While this film is evidently very loosely based on a novel by Carlos Fuentes called Aura, there's just the slightest whiff of a 1964 episode of The Twilight Zone: Season 5 called "Queen of the Nile" wherein a journalist interviews a seemingly unnaturally young looking actress and a rather elderly woman in the actress' home claims to be the ostensibly "younger" woman's daughter. Here, Sergio meets a mysterious older woman named Consuelo Lorente (Sarah Ferrati), who in fact may have been stalking Sergio. Lorente more or less lures Sergio to her home with an offer of some organizational work and it's there that Sergio meets Lorente's equally enigmatic daughter Aura (Rosanna Schiaffino). Suffice it to say all is not as it seems, but the film probably goes even further by offering depictions that are at the very least misdirecting if not outright misleading, adding to the generally discombobulated feeling of the film.

Richard Johnson is a kind of interesting choice for the lead of this film, not necessarily due to his nationality, but because he seems to be a bit on the stolid side, though that perhaps contributes to the increasingly askew feeling the film offers once Aura enters the story. The narrative here may virtually wallow in ambiguity, but that said, it may not be quite ambiguous enough, since the "relationship" between Lorente and Aura is ultimately given a somewhat overt depiction.

The Witch Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arrow has lumped all four films together in terms of its verbiage on the transfers included in the insert booklet which accompanies this set:

The Blancheville Monster (Horror), The Third Eye (Il terzo occhio) and The Witch (La strega in amore) are presented in their original aspect ratios of 1.85:1 with Italian and English mono audio. Lady Morgan's Vengeance (La vendetta di Lady Morgan) is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with Italian mono audio.

The original 35mm camera negatives for The Blancheville Monster, The Third Eye and The Witch were scanned and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The films were graded at R3Store Studios, London. The mono Italian and English language tracks were remastered from the optical sound negatives by L'Immagine Ritrovata and Bad Princess Productions, London.

The original 35mm camera negative for Lady Morgan's Vengeance was scanned in 2K resolution at Cinema Communications Services, Rome. Grading and restoration were completed at R3Store Studios, London. The mono Italian language track was remastered from the optical sound negative by Bad Princess Productions, London. The audio synch for all three films will appear slightly loose against the picture, due to the fact that the dialogue was recorded entirely in post production, as per the production standards of the period.

All original materials used for the restorations of The Blancheville Monster, The Third and Eye and The Witch were made available from Movietime.

All original materials used for the restoration of Lady Morgan's Vengeance were made available from Variety.

The Witch has a somewhat dreamlike quality at times which is preserved quite winningly in this transfer, which features some excellent contrast and nicely shadowy blacks. Fine detail is typically excellent on everything from Sergio's herringbone patterned suit jacket to some of the weird looking set decoration in Lorente's home. It looked to my eyes like diffusion filters may have been used to accentuate the hallucinatory quality of Aura in particular, and as a result even some close-ups of Schiaffino may not have the same level of clarity as the bulk of the presentation as a result. Grain resolves naturally throughout.

The Witch Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Witch features LPCM Mono tracks in Italian and English. This presentation, somewhat like that of The Third Eye, has a noticeably brighter sound, especially with regard to the higher frequencies, on the English language track, something that again (as with that other film) can be discerned from the get go by toggling between the English and Italian tracks during the very enjoyable vocalese theme music, which sounds kind of peculiarly French for an Italian film featuring a British star. Both tracks offer good support for effects, score and dialogue, though as with all four films in this set, there's a slightly boxy sound at times. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Witch Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary by Kat Ellinger


• Witchery (HD; 3:46) is an introduction by Mark Thompson Ashworth.


• Loving the Devil (HD; 24:25) is a visual essay by author and academic Miranda Corcoran.


• The Rome Witch Project (HD; 18:38) is an interview with author and filmmaker Antonio Tentori. Subtitled in English.


• Image Gallery

The Witch Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Witch is frankly not very scary in any real way, but it's still rather spooky, and while Johnson is the putative star, the great Italian stage actress Sarah Ferrati is really the most commanding performance in the film. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements very appealing. Recommended.