Nocturnal Forum

Every once in a while - usually after viewing a too large amount of boring dreck - I feel as if I've already seen all the good Euro stuff there. And always when I get that feeling, I stumble across some undiscovered little film and is taken aback by what turns out to be a true gem. The Spanish horror film THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN from 1972 is one such film.

Lead actor John Gaffari has a super funky 1970s wardrobe and probably the most killer moustache ever captured on film. He plays a macho photographer who is visited by an old girlfriend (Monica Randall) who seeks reconciliation - bringing along tickets for a romantic holiday. The poor gal is spurned, however, when Gaffari rejects her offer in a rather plump way; calling his boss and telling him he wants another work assignment - anything as long as he won't get a holiday. Not exactly a gentlemanly way to dump someone, and his fuming ex swears he'll be sorry.

But Gaffari goes off on his mission to take pictures of some gorgeous mountains in the Pyrenees, and in between gets the time to snap pictures of a bikini-clad babe on a beach - played by extremly good-looking Patty Shepard. Patty takes a liking to the macho-photographer and joins him on his way to the mysterious mountain where they encounter an apparantly abandoned village, creepy singing and other weird things...

I can't really say what it was but I was totally enthralled by this film. The beautiful mountain settings was very atmospheric and suitably sinister, and Fernando García Morcillo's weird and chilling score is used to great effect. I love how the film slowly builds up an eerie and mysterious atmosphere, and throwing in so many bizarre things in between. Stuff that doesn't necessarily make much sense but it's effective nonetheless.

The cast too is great, with top acting honors going to the loveable and always reliable Victor Israel as a strange and partially deaf inn-keeper, and Ana Farra (who also played Paul Naschy's faithful housekeeper in CURSE OF THE DEVIL) as an old woman in the abandoned mountain village who lets Gaffari and Shepard stay in her house. Patty Shepard too is quite good. She's an appealing heroine - naturally sweet and she automatically get the viewers' rooting for her.

Unfortunately, the version I saw is the old 84 minute full-screen version that was released by Unicorn. The framing on this version certainly doesn't do the film any favors and it's also noticably cut. The cuts are particularly evident in the climax, which is now totally incomprehensible due to large chunks of footage having been removed. It really hurts the film as it has slowly and greatly built itself up for the climax that comes as a total disappointment in this condition.

The fact that the film remains so enjoyable and impressive even in a badly framed and edited version is a true testament to the film and its impact. One can only imagine what the film would be like in decent-looking and fully restored version. This film is truly calling out for a good dvd release.

Hopefully, a fully uncut version may also help explain a few of the many strange plot points that made absolutely no sense in this version. Like the bizarre pre-credit sequence involving Monica Randall and an evil little child, the weird singing coming from Patty Shepard's house, the chained-up man, the wedding ceremony stuff and all the other bizarre but fascinting details.

Anyone else seen this? For me it ranks with some of the best Spanish horror films!

Yes..this is one flick I need to see already! I'm assuming the only way to grab this is through a grey market label etc?

Yeah, it's available as part of the 50 movie set called Chilling classics (or something like that) from Mill Creek. I'd say the set is worth the low price tag. In addition to this film you also get some other interesting goodies like NAKED MASSACRE (1976), WEREWOLF IN A GIRL'S DORMITORY (1961), METAMORPHOSIS (1989), PANIC (1982), FUNERAL HOME (1981) and several others. The quality on the prints vary but many of them are surprisingly watchable.

This has one of the top 10 scores I've heard in a horror film, it really gets under your skin and in your head. The high Pyrennes locations become an integral element and hava an overpowering presence. This film was confiscated by the Spanish police during its first showing at SITGES 1972 and about 15 minutes were edited out. That footage has never resurfaced. A very underrated film and a must see if you are interested in Spanish horror.

Confiscated by the police? Does this mean that the footage was destroyed? Or could it still exist out there somewhere? I desperately want to see this film as it was really meant to be seen!

It was actually being screened at the SITGES Film Festival when it was stopped and taken by authorities. This was after complaints by some of the actresses you see in the film in that wild ritual toward the end. I've heard rumors that the original scenes as filmed were extreme in terms of nudity, sexual activity and let's say other elements. I would imagine that the director Raul Artigot if he's still alive may have the footage or it's somewhere in Spain. THe film is so obscure that there's no real demand for a restoration, but there should be. I rank it as one of the top 10 Spanish horror films/

BRW, the child at the opening is not really a child and the chained up man in the mountain will have his place taken by Caffari if you note the very last thing you see before the fadeout.  Cihangar Gafari (John Caffari/John Foster) had a rather interesting career. He was quite popular in Iran and Turkey as a local action thug and after WITCHES MOUNTAIN did some US cult cinema. I had heard he returned to Iran, but am not sure of his present whereabouts.

Gaffari did indeed have a peculiar and interesting career. I even appeared in the two Matt Cimber/Laurene Landon flicks, in which I quite enjoyed him.

Another rather weir ut quite fascinating detail from THE WITCHES MOUNTAIN occurs in the scene where Gaffari has an encounter with a certain black cat. In this scene he is looking at a bunch of photographs and all of a sudden there is a briefly seen photo of Italian actress Erna Schurer!!! I'm not kidding! I'm convinced that it really is Erna. Just look for yourselves:



Erna worked for a while as a model and also appeared in various fotoromanzi (photo novels) before becoming a popular film actress in the late 1960s, so I guess that could explain the photo's - apprantaly random - inclusion in the film. It's nevertheless makes for yet another fascinating detail to an already weird and wonderful film.

Does look like her. I never noticed that before. There are numerous strange scenes in the film. The strangest for me is when Mario is looking at the shots he took around the village where he didn't see any people but figures appear on the developed film. Then there's one photo of him and Patty Shepard from a scene which hasn't happened yet and WHO could have taken it since he had the camera and it's his roll of film?