Sam Panico If you go to a town named Lilith to live, you should not be surprised that the town is run by devil worshippers. If Orson Welles comes to you in a robe and his name is Mr. Cato, you should not be shocked to learn that he wants to use you to raise his son from the grave. What is surprising is that for a movie promising rituals and raising the dead, Necromancy isn't all that exciting.Directed by Bert I. Gordon (War of the Colossal Beast, Picture Mommy Dead), the master of rear projection, this film is all about Lori Brandon (Pamela Franklin, The Legend of Hell House, And Soon the Darkness), a woman who has recently lost a child. She moves with her husband, Richard (Michael Ontkean, Sheriff Harry S. Truman from Twin Peaks) to the aforementioned town of Lilith to start over again.On the way there, they get in an accident and kill a woman, but it's totally glossed over because this is 1972. Life was cheap. At least Lori gets a baby doll out of this accident.There used to be a sign in my hometown that said, "What Ellwood City makes, makes Ellwood City." The town of Lilith makes one thing: the world's finest occult paraphernalia. There's one great scene here with Lori sees her image inside a tarot card, a really evocative scene thrown away in a film that is otherwise less than memorable.If you've seen Rosemary's Baby, you know exactly how this is all gonna turn out. If you are the star of a 1970's horror movie — especially if you are Donald Sutherland — expect to die. Horribly.Much like the devil, Necromancy goes by many names, such as The Witching, A Life for a Life, Horror-Attack, Rosemary's Disciples and The Toy Factory. When Paragon Video re-released it on VHS in 1982, they chopped out tons of story and dialogue to insert scenes of nude witches like Brinke Stevens and even more Satanic rituals.As much as I love Orson Welles — we'll have a whole month of his films at some point, I'm certain — this is not his finest hour. He has some fine speeches, but the material is Mrs. Paul's level. Beneath him.

fedor8 Is it me or has Orson put a fake nose yet again for this movie? He did it at least once before, in "Touch of Evil" for example, so I wouldn't be surprised if he dood it again. Perhaps that was one of the conditions for appearing in this low-budget Bert I. Gordon nonsense. "Alright, I'll do it, but under several conditions, the first one being that I can use a fake nose." Pamela Franklin is in nearly every scene. This means that even if this were the dumbest supernatural thriller around, it would still be at the very least an easily watchable movie. Those eyes! The lines that come out of Pamela's beautiful mouth and her behaviour are a cross between goofy, ditsy, and absurd. She and her hubby Ontkean have a road accident, she witnesses the death of a woman in the other car, and yet they drive on as if nothing had happened. She even takes a "souvenir" from the crash-site, the dead woman's doll.Plenty of nudity here. On occasion "The Witching" feels like it'd been produced by Hugh Hefman, with the notable difference that all the breasts featured here are real. The movie looks like a 70s flick (which it is) but the occasionally synthesizer-orientated soundtrack is very much 80s. That is a little strange.The ending is just about as stupid – because totally devoid of ANY twist – as any that I'd ever seen. We had been told beforehand that Pamela has to become a witch in order to bring back to life Orson's dead son, after which she will take his place in the grave. We are told this 20-30 minutes before the end. And guess what happens? That's exactly what happens. I don't remember ever seeing a horror film with such a dead-end crappy ending without a point. If the writer is too lazy to come up with an end-twist (even if it's totally cliché) then he should at least not reveal everything that the viewer will ever find out, already a half-hour before the conclusion. Duh.Many idiotic things occur, such as a total lack of explanation as to why Franklin willingly became a witch. There was no indication at any point that she wanted any of this, and yet when the time came she took part in the ceremony without any hesitation. Duuuh. The ceremony was to take place only if she became a witch of her own accord. Well, why she accorded of her own accord to join the according chord, this is never accordingly accorded. But this IS a Bert I. Gordon flick, after all, so let's be grateful for little things."The other condition that I accept this role is that I win and Pamela loses. And that there is no surprise twist at all." Hmm, perhaps it's all Orson's fault.

EraserheadDr I have a copy of "The Witching", but i'm not sure if it's the same as "Necromancy". The film is very strange itself. It has a bunch of mumbling in the film. When Orson Welles talks, his voice is all mumbly and really is terrible. It also has a lot of nudity, and I don't know how it had a PG rating. It also has a lot of Satanism in the film.It has rituals and a bunch of strange, wicked things. For me, I think it's okay, but not the best horror film to see. Very odd with the story and really is messed up. It's about a woman and her husband go to a town called Lilith, and no children are allowed there. Because Mr. Cato(Orson Welles) wants it that way.You better watch the film if it sounds interesting to you. But it contains a lot of nudity and satanism, witchcraft, bringing the dead to the living and the living to the dead, and just messed up.

wouldnti The film "Necromancy" (1972) was considerably altered for a re-released version which I'm not sure was ever shown in theaters (it may have been a straight-to-video release). This altered version, re-titled "The Witching"(1981, if I'm not mistaken) is apparently only one of several such versions. Since they are under other titles ("A Life For A Life", "Rosemary's Disciples", etc.), I'm assuming (though I'm not certain) that these have been altered further. However, I have seen both "Necromancy" & "The Witching". While the original film (which is next to impossible to find anywhere-though I was able to track down a copy) is a suspenseful, gothic horror film, various key elements were removed for "The Witching", including: the final scene, which clears up some plot points while adding a final twist to the story; both the opening & closing titles, which were replaced with painfully ordinary sequences; & the original music score, which included a memorable song entitled "The Morning After" (not to be confused with the Oscar-winning song of the same title used in "The Poseidon Adventure", released the same year).The new (completely different) music score is horribly, embarassingly cheesy. The sequence of scenes, in some places, was also changed slightly & there was additional (& badly misplaced) footage added. I can only imagine what liberties have been taken with the more recent altered versions, since seeing for myself what else has been done to the original film would be much scarier than "Necromancy" itself.