There's a big bad Satanist who will drink no blood before its time, and he's trying to create a war of the worlds between good and evil. It's Orson Welles if you haven't figured that out as of yet, the leader of a coven in a town conveniently known as Lilith. It's stereotypical that a big brassy personality like Welles should be a cigar-smoking warlock, just as Shelley Winters was in a couple of TV movies (minus the cigar). The heroine is Pamela Franklin who is heading to Lilith, distracted by the tragedy of a car accident where the other car she swerved to avoid ends up going over a cliff, sending several people to their deaths. As fate would have it, they were involved in the coven, and now she must become a part of them so the dead can come back to life. It's ironic that Welles is the only mature person involved in the coven, all of the others young and ambitious to get ahead through the powers of darkness.

The title indicates the power to bring people back from the dead, something Welles has always wanted to accomplish so in his words he can be equal with God. He's fine in his acting, commanding and a bit over-the-top, given some great photography where he is seeing speaking with the fire conveniently in front of him as he appears in Franklin's mind. She has the ability to see things that aren't there which apparently includes a dead child who was in the car.

This does take the horror a step beyond what would probably be allowed on TV and that's why this would have a big screen release. Overall, it's more Erie than frightening, and I did not get chills ones even when Franklin believed she was being covered by screeching bats. It's campy on the level of many other of the movies directed by Bert I. Gordon who had several films on this team and directed nothing other than horror or science fiction. In fact, it's rather old-fashioned on many levels, certainly no rivalry to "Rosemary's Baby" or "The Exorcist" or "The Omen" or the many other truly frightening occult movies that would follow. In retrospect, it's actually a fine mix of grand guignole and unintentional comedy which means that I highly recommended on that level.

The release history of NECROMANCY is perhaps more lively and entertaining than the film itself. This witchcraft horror is perhaps most interesting for featuring Orson Welles in a late role as a hefty Satanist with a sinister murder plot to bring his dead son back to life. I was delighted to see it, finally, because it's directed by the incredible long-running director Bert I. Gordon, who made all of those great giant monster movies back in the 1950s.

This film is notable for being re-released under a ton of different titles around the world, with the '80s re-release entitled THE WITCHING perhaps more popular than the original version. I'm happy to say that I watched the full and unedited original here. A pity, then, after all this fuss, that NECROMANCY turns out to be a disappointing film, far too pedestrian and hackneyed to make much of an impact.

As a film it owes a heck of a lot to other witchcraft chillers from the era, particularly ROSEMARY'S BABY. There are also shades of THE STEPFORD WIVES, with scenes of creeping social paranoia brought to the forefront. There were a whole wave of these slow-paced and subtle horrors made during the era, but I found NECROMANCY pedestrian. The direction is effective and there are a handful of creepy moments, but they add up to very little that hasn't been seen before. Pamela Franklin stars, adding another horror role to her extensive resume.

I saw an extended version of "Necromancy" that is available to watch on YouTube. The introduction claims that deleted footage was restored in this version--making the film more complete and coherent. So, when you see some reviews that hated the movie, it is possible they saw the shorter version. As for me, the film I saw was MUCH better than the current 4.2 and this could be because it's more the director or writer's original vision.

Pamela Franklin stars as Lori. While Orson Welles gets top billing, she was clearly the focus of the film...and I assume they billed Welles first to improve marketing or as part of the contract to get Welles to appear in the movie. Lori recently had a miscarriage and her husband Frank (Michael Ontkean) has taken a job near the town of Lillith. However, the folks offering the job had a lot of strange questions--questions about his and his wife's religious beliefs. While these sort of questions are illegal to ask, he responds that they are both atheists and that seemed to make the employer happy...or so Frank says.

When they get to Lillith, they find the place is a hellhole....and that really isn't an exaggeration! The folks are all members of a Satanic cult led by Mr. Cato (Welles) and Lori naturally wants to leave. But Frank inexplicably blows off her worries and seems to like the place and the strange people. So why did they REALLY come here and why are the folks so interested in Lori?

This movie is above all, creepy...with a dark, brooding atmosphere throughout. The story, though sometimes confusing, was also pretty interesting...but suffers some because of its close similarity to "Rosemary's Baby". In other words, if you've already seen this earlier film it's pretty easy to guess what's going on in "Necromancy". Not a great film but food if you would like a few chills.