Season of the Witch » The Juggler

Witchcraft in ’60s Film

May 162012

Was there ever a period more obsessed with Witchcraft (outside of the Middle Ages), than that which the Counterculture Musical Hair termed “the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius”?

This might seem like a convoluted beginning, but- in Michael Shermer’s book Why People Believe Weird Things, he quotes a sociologist, who comments thus about outbreaks of Witchcraft Mania: there is no “better index to social disruption and change, for outbreaks of witch mania have generally taken place in societies which are- confronting a relocation of boundaries.”

If one considers all the decades of the 20th century: none are as intensely fascinated with the Occult as the period from the late 1960s-the early 1970s. As well, no period evidenced more anxiety over the subject. In previous decades, Witchcraft was seen in movies as innocent Faerey-Tale and as the subject for Romantic comedy. Indeed, in 1964, American Pop-Culture introduced one of its most beloved Witches, in the TV series Bewitched (which ran until 1972). However: reflect upon the fact that the late ’60s sees an explosion of extremely lurid Witch-movies (both in America and in Great Britain). As an example, check out Hammer Film’s 1966 The Witches (released in the United States in 1967 as The Devil’s Own). Starring 1940s Hollywood star Joan Fontaine, the movie depicts a school-teacher uncovering (shock of horror!) an actual Witch-Coven operating in an innocent-seeming English village. If you check out the Trailer here on YouTube, and this Scene from the movie: you will get an idea of the strange cult-like presentation of Witches. These are very subversive Witches, living undercover amongst their neighbors: but dangerous and threatening to their neighbors, to the extent (as you see from the advert to your left) that these Witches endorse Ritual Human Sacrifice- in a very strange, cult-like manner. (They also employ Ritual Circles, as you see, and High Priestesses who wear Horned Head-dresses.)

Of course, nothing can equal a strange, cult-like presentation of Witches like Roman Polanski’s 1968 Rosemary’s Baby. Derived from the earlier novel, the film is one of the greatest horror-movies ever made, and one of the film-classics of the ’60s: a creepy, claustrophobic, paranoid affair. TOTAL SPOILER ALERT: if in the 40 years that this film has been out, you have never seen Rosemary’s Baby; jump to the next section now: I’m totally spilling the beans on Rosemary’s Baby. A really well-acted, well-crafted, well-directed movie (one of Polanski’s accomplishments is to give you such a good sense of the couple’s apartment- the world seems turned upside-down for a minute, when something happens that we don’t expect towards the end), set in a magnificently Gothic haunted house (it was famously filmed at the Grandest of Baroque Manhattan apartment buildings, the Dakota, also the site where John Lennon was murdered): Rosemary’s Baby concerns a young couple’s first pregnancy- a strange, painful pregnancy, the weirdness of which is explained wonderfully when the young mother figures out that her next-door neighbors are Witches; Witches who have summoned the Devil to impregnate Rosemary with the unHoly spawn of Satan.

Witches in this film are the equivalent to Satan-Worshippers in another context. The fact that they are (literally) Hell-Raising WITCHES is made plain (the word is used to describe the coven next-door). It is difficult to argue that this is invalid as a fictional premise, as for the better part of the Middle Ages, “Witch” meant “Devil-Worshipper” (200,000 people were not put to death for “Witchcraft,” but for “Devil-Worshipping Witchcraft”; Witches were not executed at Salem for “Witchcraft” per se, but for contracting with the Devil, to harm through Witchcraft; both the novel and movie continue this trope). Granted, Rosemary’s neighbors could be “Satanic Ritual Occultists”: but Rosemary’s line of shocked apprehension, “They’re WITCHES!!” loses power if it becomes, “They’re Satanic Ritual Occultists!!” Like The Witches, Rosemary’s Baby imagines a world wherein apparent innocence and normalcy can turn dangerously sinister, in the revelation that the most innocuous of neighbors could turn out to be Satan-Summoning Witches and practitioners of the Dark Arts. (In the Pop-Culture Call-Out Category, one has to note that the marvelous actress Ruth Gordon received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, as the deceptively batty Satanic-Priestess Witch in the apartment next to Rosemary; so popular was Rosemary’s Baby, a TV sequel was broadcast in 1976, a sort of late ’70s fascination with Satanic Occultism.)

Witches become the victims in England’s 1968 Witchfinder General, starring that master-of-horror Vincent Price and based upon the sadistic career of 1640s Matthew Hopkins: a film in which Witch Mania erupts in a society undergoing terror and upheaval, reflecting times of such dangerous uncertainty that cruel Witch-Hunters may flourish; the innocent with no recourse save to suffer the tortures under which they must break, sooner or later, to the confessions that will earn them execution as “Witches.” (For all that England did not actually burn Witches, as the advert might imply: gentle England, they “merely” hung Witches.)

1968 was quite the year, Occult-Movie-wise: Another Hammer Film from then (Hammer Studios was quite prolific in the late ’60s, we see), that deals with, in Rosemary’s Baby-like manner, the Summoning of Satan is The Devil Rides Out (released in the United States as The Devil’s Bride). Starring Hammer stalwart Christopher Lee as a Good Occultist, the film depicts a Satanic Cult under the leadership of a Bad Occultist (who has gained hypnotic powers over his victims through his Occultism). If you check out the scene that someone has put up at YouTube, you will see the climatic sequence when the deranged Cult, abandoned to wantonness (and wearing pajamas reminiscent of Hugh Hefner), actually (wait for it; no really, wait for it) summons THE DEVIL HIMSELF!! (Christopher Lee’s line: “My GOD!! It’s The DEVIL HIMSELF!!”) Fortunately Mr. Lee pitches a Cross right into that Damn Bastard’s Face and sends the Fiend exploding back to Hell. One of the more campier of the ’60s Occult-Horror Films (check out that Ritual-Circle, though).

A preoccupation with the Occult, and an expression of existential fright through the Occult, continued into the early ’70s, despite the introduction of another beloved Pop-Culture Witch: Witchiepoo, in HR Pufnstuf. The supernatural soap Dark Shadows ran from 1966-71; the creepily spooky series The Night Stalker of 1974 existed for only one season, but is inevitably fondly recalled by anyone who was a TV-watching kid at the time; even the popular cartoon-show Scooby Doo (that started in 1969) featured supernatural story-lines. Then arrived the Grand-Daddy of horror films, The Exorcist (in 1973), followed by the Anti-Christ movie The Omen in 1976 (I remember both movies causing seismic shock-waves throughout the zeitgeist). Considered in this light, the British cult-film of 1973, The Wicker Man, seems a bit more comprehensible, its Twilight-Zone plot a continuation of the surreal sense of dread explored in Supernatural film since the late ’60s. Even its dramatic conclusion arrives within a context, if you consider that human-sacrifice had been a theme introduced first in The Witches and The Devil Rides Out.

Why was there this intense focus on Supernatural themes (frequently involving Witches) bridging the ’60s into the ’70s? If we believe that Witch-Mania will manifest during times when society is “relocating its boundaries”: we might consider the social pressures being exerted, with the Racial, Gender, and Sexual Equality Movements beginning tumultuous upheavals. Likewise, the Hippie Movement, the Counterculture, and the Youth Movement challenged the norms of more conservative times. The Viet Nam War was a ferociously controversial subject, and the Watergate scandal rocked America’s belief in its own government (generating a cynicism towards government that we have yet to move away from). And then, of course, there was the reintroduction of Occult Philosophy into the Psyche, both through the influence of the Age of Aquarius and the nascent Rise of Wicca and Neo-Paganism. But still- by the end of the ’70s, this jittery quality vanished from the scene (to be replaced by the malaise of the Carter years). Just like the Burning Times at the end of the Middle Ages, the time of ’60s-’70s Witch-Scares-and-Popular-Culture just stopped.

Why? Perhaps it is because by then, the social boundaries had been relocated, and there was not the need for projected acting-out through Witch-Drama.

In the midst of this, a little-known movie made its debut upon the scene- a movie that in retrospect, presaged a lot (such as the entire social movement that causes us all to be here today, at the Juggler). Although its director George A. Romero is famous for films like Night of the Living Dead, 1971′s Season of the Witch could not be more removed from any Horror Flick milieu. It is actually a Women’s Lib movie, albeit one with Occult overtones. It opens upon a suburban housewife confronting her life in a pretty house and a dried-up marriage, going through the meaningless motions of it all. She is aware that the Times, they are a-changing around her, but rather than go mad like the heroine in Lucy Jordan’s Ballad, she discovers Witchcraft. Ah, but it’s not the creepy/ spooky kind of Shlock Horror: it is the kind that will come to be called Wicca, and which will lead the way for the Pagan Revival experienced by all of us, here today. As such, it is a remarkable depiction of our early history, the first days of our movement and Cause (it surely must be the first depiction of Wiccan Witchcraft on film). It also presages the next notable development in 20th century Witchcraft Film: Witchcraft (Wicca) as an empowerment. The heroine of Season of the Witch is empowered by her exposure to Witchcraft; she empowers herself through devotion to the Craft: the implication at the end is that she will go on to empower others, as a Priestess of the Craft. Her journey is that taken by all here within the Pagan movement; she is our first representation and cinematic role-model. She will be mirrored by many other women in film later in the century, with the next explosion of Witches in Movies, in the 1990s, as Witchcraft increasingly comes to be seen as an Empowerment for Women, in a movement that might be called, the Rise of the Witch.

Season of the Witch is available at Hulu.com; please check it out, for being the quintessential modern Pagan Film-Classic.

The Worst Pagan Movies of 2011

culture, film 8 Responses »

Dec 292011

Here are my nominations for the Two Worst Pagan Movies of 2011, one of which arrived rather late in the year, while the other was released just a scant few days after New Year’s last January- delightfully rendering it acceptable fodder for another round of dogging.

There appears to be a tendency, in making Classical Mythology films, to treat the Mythology as a jumping-off point for basically a gigantic Super-Hero movie- as, for instance, the 2010 remake of the 1980s’ Clash of the Titans, soon to be revisited as Clash of the Titans II: Wrath of the Titans. There is a certain reasonableness to this, as in many ways, Perseus, say, probably counts as among the first Super-Heroes. Then there is a tendency to interpret “Pagan” in terms of “barbaric”: again, reasonable enough, one supposes, in certain circumstances, as Back-in-the-Day Pagans could apparently be kind of violent upon occasion. The thing is, this tendency leads to sessions of severely over-the-top Violence-Porn. In a Good Pagan movie such as Centurion, this can interestingly add up to a powerful “anti-War/ anti-Violence” message (Centurion is as anti-War in its way as Apocalypse Now or All Quiet on the Western Front- but in the Pagan context of Roman legions in Britain). In a Bad Pagan movie, such as 2010′s Valhalla Rising, which doesn’t really have much point to it beyond grotesque violence and gore, one is just left with the queasy after-impression of a very unpleasant film.

Both of these tendencies came together in an unfortunate way in 2011′s Immortals, which (among other things, as many Jugglers have pointed out) does not actually have very much “Immortals” in it (and They kind of function as Celestial Super-Heroes when They do show up). Otherwise this movie, ostensibly set in Classical Greece, with figures such as Theseus and the Olympic Deities, does not conform to any region or age of Greece recognizable, and tends to get lost in Mickey Rourke’s performance as the psychotic King Hyperion. The film keeps trying to “up” itself by ramping up the psycho-level of Rourke’s character, and while Mr. Rourke can play psycho as well as anyone working these days, it just turns kind of campy and stupid and obnoxiously disagreeable after awhile- and when the Gods (the “Immortals” promised in the title) do show, it is in a superficial and over-the-top manner; not enough to save this sour mess of a dank flick.

On the other hand, Immortals does have a lead actor (Mr. Henry Cavill, slated to become the newest Superman in 2013), who does a fine job of delivering a leading performance as Theseus- something sorely lacking from my personal choice of Worst Pagan Movie of the Year.

The central image of Nicolas Cage’s Season of the Witch (released early in January) is of a clunky iron cage, on top of a lumbering wagon and carried (on a twisted sort of Quest-Journey) along perilously narrow Alpine trails,to a distant abbey- where the monks can “examine” a suspected Witch. The unwieldy vehicle with its transient prison makes an admirable metaphor for this movie, with its increasingly ridiculous plot and lead-weight of a lead performance.

Despite an effective opening that neatly demonstrates (in like four minutes) the Burning Times as Religious Criminality against women, the movie is ridiculously anti-Witch in its viewpoint, to a degree that finally endorses the Catholic Church and Fundamentalist Christianity’s assertion that the merest association with Witchcraft allows the Forces of Satan loose in one’s life. (The Suspected Witch- a kind of Terrorist to Christendom- is the prisoner carried in the cage; her- literally, as we come to find out- diabolical Powers are so great, a small armed band led by two ex-Crusaders, are necessary to transport her.) One could read this as a fascinating parable about Life in the Age of Terror (with its presumed challenges to the Civil Liberties of Witches; in fact, this formed the basis for the Burning Times persecutions, that the perils to Christianity from Devil-Worshipping Witches were so extreme, normal legal precautions and protections needed to be put aside and things such as “enhanced interrogation techniques”- torture- employed.)

As I say, one could read it this way: or one could end the movie by basically making it The Exorcist In the Dark Ages- which is what this movie does.

What saves the movie from being truly offensive is that it is so campily bad, and a huge degree of responsibility for that goes to Mr. Cage’s dead-eyed and wooden performance. Looking as if he could just barely be bothered to get out of bed and onto the set, he sinks this movie in every scene.

If you want a GOOD example of a movie depicting fanatical medieval Christians moving against a suspected society of Witches (who look kind of like land-worshipping Pagans, by the way): check out Black Death. Unlike Season of the Witch, it is worthwhile.

Pagan Movie Break-Down

culture, film No Responses »

Apr 012011

With the Juggler closing in on its first year anniversary, it is remarkable to reflect that there have been (in that time) a surprising number of examples of what might be termed “Pagan” movies- enough to suggest that the Zeitgeist is in the process of assembling the New Thing: the Pagan Movie Genre.

When we consider that the previous year has seen: Agora; Centurion; Valhalla Rising; Season of the Witch (the Nicolas Cage one); The Eagle; and Black Death- that is roughly one “Pagan” movie per every two months. All of these movies are interesting in that they use Pagans to explore scenes of social/ cultural conflict.

A notable movie of last summer was the blockbuster Avatar, which utilized Alien Cat-People as a metaphor for the Earth-Worshipping (or Native-Planet-Worshipping); Nature (within the environment)-Oriented; Spiritually-Interconnected beings otherwise pegged as “Pagans” in the aforesaid films. Like The Eagle and Centurion, Avatar depicts an imperialistic, martial culture forcibly impinging upon peaceful, planet-nature-worshipping spiritualists: in both The Eagle and Centurion, these war-like, aggressive forces are as Pagan (Roman) as the Celtic Pagans whom they attempt to subject. For being more “Earth-oriented” than the Romans, the Celts in these two movies come across as being more authentically “Pagan”; the Celtic Pagans in both films are identified moreover as proud freedom-fighters, defending liberty and home against invading and hostile troops.

Four of these films project danger and threat onto “Pagans” (in two cases, “Witches”) from fanatical Christian-Believers: Agora; Valhalla Rising; Season of the Witch; and Black Death. Agora depicts the essentiall Fall of Paganism to Christianity, as fanatical Christians impose their authoritative control over Alexandria; Valhalla Rising (well, Valhalla Rising is such a weirdly obtuse movie, it is difficult finally to say what it is about, but well)- it has Pagan Vikings and Christian Vikings, and they go to America in longboats, and the Christian Vikings are Fanatics and envision a Christian Triumphalist America (which is kind of what happened), and then they all die at the hands of Natives.

I guess the point is (Valhalla Rising is the kind of movie where it’s hard to say finally, what the point is)- it has Pagan Vikings and Christian Fanatics in it.

Season of the Witch and Black Death posit fanatical Christianity as a threat to women identified as Witches. Black Death is the way-better movie, depicting ruthless Churchmen targeting Celtic herbal-healing wise-women as demon-worshipping Witches; Season of the Witch shows a demonically-possessed Witch imprisoned and transported for trial by authoritative Crusaders. Both films very clearly emphasize the misogynistic qualities of the Burning Times, presenting cruel monks and priests torturing confessions out of terrified (female) victims.

With the execption of Agora, all of these films serve as “Quest-Adventures.”

Casting the eye over these movies, one can argue that the emergent Pagan Movie Genre will feature: an overwhelmingly “Journey-Quest” theme; as well a tendency to posit “Pagans” as Land-Identified, Nature-Spirituality peoples, often considered the valiant underdogs and defenders of liberty; Christians tend to be seen as tyrannical, extremist sorts, inclined towards torture and brutality.

Ranking these movies from Good to Bad: I would call Agora and Avatar (A+) efforts; Black Death and Centurion (B+) works; The Eagle a sometimes drifting (C+); Valhalla Rising one of the most bizarre and incomprehensible movies that I have ever seen; Season of the Witch would still be a bad movie, but would have been improved a thousand times over if it’s lead actor looked like he could have been bothered to deliver a performance.

(Wicca in Movies): Season of the Witch

culture, film 2 Responses »

Feb 022011

Allowing that Wicca-themed movies are still a slight field (basically The Craft, Practical Magic, and slippets of The Doors), I would like officially to nominate George A. Romero’s Season of the Witch as a major Pagan (Wiccan) Film Classic. Please don’t let Mr. Romero’s reputation as a “Master of Horror” fool you; this is not one of those schlocky 70s horror-thrill fests. On the contrary, it’s a very intelligent and compelling work, with early Witchcraft (Wicca) a significant element in its storyline. (It is basically a “coming-out” story, with its lead character discovering herself as a Witch, before she ”comes out” as a Witch). It is one of the very few movies and/or TV shows to address Wiccan Witchcraft in a non-supernatural context (no vampires here), and in a way-more commanding fashion than any number of recent “Wicca-themed” television episodes. Most remarkable is its “Blast from the Groovy Wicca Past” aspect, as its presents Witchcraft (Wicca) in its early 70s days- an important period of time otherwise known to us primarily through the Farrars’ books. (I am curious to understand how Mr. Romero was apparently familiar enough with the ritual of Wicca Witchcraft in 1971 to present it as authentically as he does.) This worthwhile work deserves to be much better known among Wiccan/ Pagan audiences.

Review: Season Of The Witch

culture, film 2 Responses »

Feb 022011

No, no, no- it’s NOT the Nicolas Cage Season of the Witch: it’s a GOOD movie (about Witches, that is, real-life Witches, that is, us) called Season of the Witch. I so just found this on Hulu.com (got finished watching it like two hours ago) and wanted immediately to inform any and all Juggler readers: please, please avail yourselves NOW (cause I don’t know how long this may be up on Hulu.com) of this unique opportunity to check out this REALLY INTERESTING Indie/Art-House (early 70s) movie, that strictly speaking, is a movie ABOUT the severe Female Malaise afflicting the Women of America at the close of the 60s (this movie was filmed in 1971). The interesting thing is that this film’s solution to the Female Malaise- the frustration of being, the confinement of personal scope, the pressures upon conformity- the solution to all of this is (no seriously, wait for it): Witchcraft.

Yup- you read that right. Here in this film (by George A. Romero, director of Night of the Living Dead), is a woman, going through the motions of life during that really self-conscious Glam Period of the late 60s/ early 70s (the actress is a striking woman, and looks fabulous when they have her all Glammed out, as they frequently do): her daughter is growing up, her marriage has gone stale, she is frustrated by the routine of her stultifying domestic life- and what is the solution to all this angst and pent-up frustration? Witchcraft, recognizable as what we call “Wicca” today (a Juggler reader informed us earlier that, actually, back in the 60s/ early 70s, “Witchcraft” was the term to present This Stuff; “Wicca” actually came a bit later)- Witchcraft is the answer to her problems; the outlet for her unique energies- Witchcraft, such as we recognize as presented by Gardner and the Sanders and the Farrars: early 70s Witchcraft (what we call Wicca), perhaps portrayed on film for the first time.

The early 70s’ vibe throughout is so authentic; watching this can really “clue you in” on what the “scene of the times” was like. The period’s confrontations between the Youth Culture (wanting to break off the chains of Middle Class Morality, man, and bust loose with grass and feeling vibes and getting it on and feeling good) and the way-more conventional Establishment mind-set and attitudes are very well set-up, as is the existential crisis afflicting the film’s heroine. The times’ fascination with ESP, with the open and explored Consciousness- with Witchcraft- is very well established; in numerous ways, the film very effectively presents an obsession of the times, a belief that there is “something out there, that we can’t explain.”

We are first introduced to Witchcraft in the form of a local woman, who is a “Witch- honest to God- the whole Bell, Book, and Candle thing. It’s like a religion; they have meetings and ceremonies; they’re out dancing in circles (How’s the moon tonight?)” It’s interesting that the movie references not only Bell, Book, and Candle, but also Rosemary’s Baby as well.

So the lady goes to visit this woman for a Tarot reading and the woman explains being a Witch. “It is a Religion, really. My mother was a Witch, and my father belonged.” She reminisces, “When I was a child, I would be taught recipes and incantations- and SWORN to secrecy- but nowadays, when anything goes-” She notes that “now” (1971) “you can go into a bookstore and pick up a paperback primer on Witchcraft; there are mail-order houses that provide the tools of the trade.”

So as so many of us have done- the bored housewife in question, frustrated by the sense that her life is passing by in dull and unremarkable fashion, gets herself to an occult store; buys a supply of tools and a book titled To Be A Witch: A Primer; sets up an altar and dedicates her utensils- and spends the rest of the movie identifying herself as a Witch.

It’s a really awesome movie, way ahead of its time in addressing the strangulation of the pre-Female Empowerment era; a fascinating cinematic look into super-early 70s culture; and a REALLY early and very positive look at Witchcraft [Wicca] in 70s America. Please check it out as soon as you are possibly able.

Review: Season of a Lame Movie

culture, film 7 Responses »

Jan 092011

So I caught Nicolas Cage’s just-released Season of the Witch tonight with my friends Gary and Mojo, and we had a really good time, because it’s one lame-ass movie. That bizarre, ponderous, super-self-conscious “antique-speak” of medieval movies (“We have seen much death, you and I”; “Your victories are legend”); coupled with an astonishingly flat and wooden performance by Mr. Cage (the amount of time the man spends staring into the camera with a slightly stupefied gaze meant to indicate great moral crisis is actually really funny); make for a very humorous, fantastically campy movie.

Stuff that’s good: there are some really nice photography-shots of the Alps; an amazing CGI-shot of the Crusaders besieging an Arabian town; a fantastic shot of the Arabian desert, pinned by a massive Cross carried in front of the advancing Crusaders- and an opening sequence that deals with medieval Witches.

This section is actually quite good, and very sympathetic to Witches as victims of a Witch-Hunting medieval Church. The pressure brought to bear on the accused; the terror of those in peril of their lives (terror enough to confess to whatever seems necessary to free one); and one memorable display of Witchy defiance to a smug Churchman; plus the brutal execution of three women, whom one is pretty sure are innocent of that for which they have been accused: all are presented quite powerfully, and make for a gripping moment, that underscores the cruelty of the medieval Witch-Hunts. (One notices that Mr. Cage is nowhere in sight of this, the best scene in the movie.)

As to the story of the titular Witch, whose Season it presumably is, and whom ex-Crusader Nicolas Cage (who one kind of can’t help but note, doesn’t really do “period” very well) has to take to a far-off abbey, so that the monks can destroy her Witch’s powers- let’s take that up after the jump, so as not to give away anything-

Season Of The Witch Opens Today

culture, film 3 Responses »

Jan 072011

Nicolas Cage’s 14-th century epic Season Of The Witch opens today; full-page adverts in The New York Times invite us to “raise some Hell.” Jeannette Catsoulis begins her brief review (The Arts, p. C8): “By this point most of us have stopped trying to figure out Nicolas Cage’s career logic,” as this “supremely talented actor, Oscar winner, action star, and indie darling continues to confound us with choices” such as this; among other things, the movie appears to be happening “on the other side of a dirty window.” Parents are strongly cautioned, for “hanged witches, skewered wolves, and a pustular Christopher Lee.”

(Trailer Review): Season of the Witch

culture, film 5 Responses »

Nov 272010

Warnings and Alarms, Pagan Fans- after what looks to be this December’s delightful holiday roll-out of Julie Taymor’s “gender-flipped” version of The Tempest: it looks like (based upon evidence of the Trailer) Pagan and Wiccan movie-fans are going to be on the defensive when Nicolas Cage’s new “historical-supernatural-action-thriller” Season of the Witch comes out on January 7, 2011.

Opening upon smoky mountain-peaks, the Trailer (this is not a Movie-Review, as the movie has not come out yet; it is a consideration of the movie as projected by its advertising trailer) picks up a man’s voice imploring, “Deliver us from Evil.” The screen informs us that “There is a Force- Ruled by Darkness- dedicated to Death and Destruction.”

The screen then shows an Upside-Down Pentacle, super-imposed on flames.

This is the type of movie that will show you an Upside-Down Pentacle, super-imposed on flames, while “word-overs” talk about “Forces ruled by Darkness and dedicated to Death and Destruction.”

Then there is a shot of an earnest medieval knight. “This is a Curse from Hell- brought by the Black Witch,” he opines.

The long and the short- it seems there is this Witch, who is so dangerous and shifty and fatal that she must be imprisoned in a cage and delivered into the keeping of ex-Crusader Knight Nicolas Cage and a band of other (male) knights, to be taken to the Brothers of an abbey, equipped to “destroy the Witch’s powers.”

There is (to judge) an Exorcist-style scene between Cage and the Witch, when she taunts him, “You’re not afraid of me, are you?” Then she extinguishes his torch with her thoughts- and then re-ignites it. “How about now?”

In the course of being transported to the abbey, and the “Witch-Power” destroying monks, she apparently summons wolves to her aid; while the dire words run across the screen- “To save Mankind- these Warriors- must pass through Hell”- one knight asks Nicolas Cage, “How many more must die?”

Cage (who seems to consider it an acting choice to move his tongue as little as possible when he talks) responds: “No more if I can help it.”

Granted, this is a judgment based upon a two-minute clip of a two-hour movie; but I have to say, this is not looking promising. This movie appears eager to consider Witchcraft as an Evil Force aligned with Darkness and Destruction; as a Curse from Hell, that properly brings about Death and Terror; as a “Satanic” Force (the Upside-Down Pentacle) that Men of the Cloth must rally themselves against with fortitude.

The Witch (to judge, the sole female) is such a threat to the (to judge) males of the movie, a band of (male) knights must keep the (female) Witch locked in a cage while they undertake the dangerous task of transporting her to the abbey- the while, nonetheless (so great is her feral, aggressive temperament) she summons wolves to attack the (male) knights, her captors.

What I’m getting so far from this movie (admittedly based upon the Trailer) is that is a re-hash of the “Witch-as-(Female)-Satanic-UnGodly-Threat-to-Godliness,” against whom Godly Men (Men) must stalwart themselves.

As this appears to be a literally medieval take on Witchcraft- the same rationale responsible for the sufferings of 200,000 people in the Middle Ages- I’m already thinking I’m not going to be wild about this movie- nor do I think a large number of Pagan movie-fans will be either.