Leofwine_draca To put it bluntly, the only reason for anyone to watch VIRGIN WITCH is if you want to see the main actresses naked. The entire film is built around nudity, as there's no real story of note and as a horror film it totally falls down. But almost every scene in the film features nudity of some sort, so fans of softcore nonsense will be well satisfied.The (loose) plotting sees twin sisters Vicki and Ann Michelle (the former famous for her role in ALLO ALLO) finding themselves caught up in various shenanigans involving a pagan cult, although that description makes it sound more interesting than it actually is. Production company Tigon were behind some of the finest British horror films ever made (like BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW) but this is undoubtedly their worst hour.The acting and production values are horrible, the dialogue is sometimes inaudible, and the direction virtually non-existent. None of the characters are developed enough for anyone to give anything approaching a decent performance, and the 'twist' ending is just silly. You guessed it - I hated this one, and with a passion.

Woodyanders Brash young Christine (a deliciously saucy performance by the comely Ann Michelle) and her sweet innocent sister Betty (a winningly perky portrayal by equally fetching Vicki Michelle) are invited to a swanky palatial mansion in the country by lascivious lesbian Sybil Waite (a perfectly snippy turn by Patricia Haines) for a fashion modeling shoot. Unbeknownst to the girls, the place is really a front for a diabolical coven of witches. Director Ray Austin and screenwriter Beryl Vertue concoct a compellingly naughty and racy little outing that manages the remarkable feat of showing decadence and sexual perversity in a surprisingly tasteful and fairly restrained manner that never degenerates into outright crudely leering sleaze. Austin and Vertue also do a credible job of astutely capturing the wickedly enticing allure of the black arts. Fortunately, there's a pleasingly plentiful amount of tasty female nudity (the Michelle siblings look positively smashing in their birthday suits) and the hot basement orgy rituals are suitably wild and uninhibited with dancing nude people, crazed chanting, pounding music, and virgins being deflowered. Moreover, Christine's conversion into the cult as a high priestess is genuinely chilling and leads to a truly dark and upsetting conclusion. The capable acting from the sturdy cast rates as another major asset: The Michelle sisters make for attractive and appealing leads, Haines portrays her haughty character with lip-smacking snooty aplomb, plus there are fine supporting contributions by Keith Buckley as Betty's concerned boyfriend Johnny, Neil Hallett as kindly physician cult leader Gerald Amberly, James Chase as lecherous photographer Peter, and Paula Wright as creepy housekeeper Ms. Wright. Gerald Moss' lush and bright color cinematography makes the most out of the beautifully verdant English countryside scenery and boasts several nifty fades and dissolves. Ted Dicks' shivery score likewise hits the shuddery spot. Good bawdy fun.

christopher-underwood Hardly very 'extreme' but I have a soft spot for this. Anne Michelle stars (with her sister) and through the course of the film develops from a mini skirted dolly bird to a rather convincing coven priestess. The girls look great in their tiny skirts and without their clothes so the fact the plot line is not up to much barely matters, as it were. We get sex, lots of nudity, witchcraft scenes indoors and out and a girlie magazine shoot. That's about it really and there are slight threads involving the deposed priestess's lusting for young Anne and a young man's attempts at rescuing the younger sister from the Sabat. It's pretty, it's English and it moves along. Can't say fairer than that.

MARIO GAUCI I was half-expecting this to be even worse than THE BODY STEALERS (1969) and, my viewing of it, certainly proved my fears right! This one's the pits: the title promises nudity and scares (or at least diabolism) - it provides the former in spades, though none of it is erotic, but the latter is only present, if so it can be called, in some silly late-night rituals with nude dancing en masse of old and young witches alike! Tigon only distributed the film and, really, there are no redeeming features to this low-brow venture - whose director was actually an English aristocrat! The premise offers no surprises whatsoever and, in fact, here again we have sisters as the leading characters - one virtuous, one wicked (around this same time, Hammer Films made TWINS OF EVIL [1971] - which were played by Maltese actresses, by the way - and which, alas, I've never watched!). The other characters are stereotypes and the only one who provides any interest is Patricia Haines (formerly Mrs. Michael Caine and who died, at a fairly young age, only a few years later!) as the lesbian High Priestess of the coven.Perhaps the most hilarious scenes are the afore-mentioned rites, Ann Michelle's photo sessions (a modeling agency serves as a front for the coven) and especially when she, a newly-inducted witch, puts a spell on her rival Haines - having suddenly become an expert in the occult merely by reading a book on the subject (Michelle burns a photograph of Haines, and we see the latter's expression in it change gradually to reflect the pain she goes through!). The film was actually shot in 1970 but the BBFC refused it a certificate - realizing, perhaps, that it was pure exploitation and not really a horror film at all; in fact, it only got released when the producers took the film to the apparently more lenient censor boards of individual towns, after which the BBFC relented!