Witchfinder General (Devil's Advocates) - Softcover

I enjoyed it very much; it sets out all the various influences, both before and after the film, and indeed the essence of the film itself, very well indeed. It's great to see the film celebrated and dissected at such length. --Jonathan Rigby, author of 'English Gothic'

The Devil s Advocates series turns its penetrating gaze to Witchfinder General undoubtedly one of the most interesting horror films of the 1960s. Writer Ian Cooper s evaluations and investigations are thorough and engaging. (4*) --The List.co.uk

Excellent and comprehensive. --Folk Horror Review

... short of including a script, Cooper is very good when dealing with the making of the film, its variant editions, and its critical reception... [makes] a convincing case for placing the film in the heritage film (or costume drama) genre in the years before Merchant Ivory arrived and gave it an unnatural polish. --The British Fantasy Society

Auteur Publishing's new Devil's Advocates critiques on individual titles (Let the Right One In by Anne Billson and Witchfinder General by Ian Cooper, both £9.99) offer bracingly fresh perspectives from passionate writers. The series will perfectly complement the BFI archive volumes. --Christopher Fowler, Independent on Sunday

Devotee author Ian Cooper probes the 1968 chiller's background and influences, considering whether the film's 'nihilistic despair' can be linked to the death of its troubled director, Michael Reeves. A promising start to Auteur's [Devil's Advocates] monographs. --Total Film

Overall a welcome and informative examination into one of Britain's more notorious horror films, this Devil's Advocate explores the film in great detail, from inception to reception. Cooper examines the background, the life of its short-lived director and the production of the film (together with the often problematic relationships between the director and his star Vincent Price) as well as the studio behind the film. Most interesting is the discussion about its acceptability for contemporary British audiences and critical reactions - both at the time of release and subsequently. Witchfinder General remains one of the more interesting British films of the late Sixties and this Devil's Advocate places the film in context, socially and critically, providing a fascinating read which highlights the film's importance in cinema history. --kamera.co.uk

... a thorough, passionate and knowledgeable little book, admirably dedicated to its cause... Writer and educator Ian Cooper certainly makes the most of these rich pickings, crafting one of the best books on film I've ever read... Cooper writes with clarity, wit and confidence, his obvious fondness for the film and for movies in general evident throughout... I enjoyed it so much that I read the book in one sitting, then returned to scour it for any details I might have missed. If you've never seen Witchfinder General, I would recommend doing so immediately. Then, following that read this book. --Horror Talk

I was pleased to see one of my favourite films of the sixties, Witchfinder General (1968) accorded its due credit as a horror classic. And it is given exactly the type of treatment that makes for good film writing - one which takes the 'moment of...' approach and sees the film text at the centre of a series of intersecting contexts. --Media Education Journal

Witchfinder General (1968), known as The Conqueror Worm in America, was directed by Michael Reeves and occupies a unique place in British cinema. Equally praised and vilified, the film fictionalizes the exploits of Matthew Hopkins, a prolific, real-life "witch hunter," during the English Civil War. For critic Mark Kermode, the release proved to be "the single most significant horror film produced in the United Kingdom in the 1960s," while playwright Alan Bennett called the work "the most persistently sadistic and rotten film I've ever seen." Steadily gaining a cult reputation, unimpeded by the director's death just months after the film's release, the film is now treated as a landmark, though problematic, accomplishment, as it exists in a number of recut, retitled, and rescored versions. This in-depth study positions the film within the history of horror and discusses its importance as a British and heritage film. It also considers the inheritance of Hopkins, the script's relationship to the novel by Ronald Bassett, and the iconic persona of the film's star, Vincent Price. Ian Cooper conducts close textual readings of specific scenes and explores the film's various contexts, from the creation of the X certificate and the tradition of Hammer gothic, to the influence on Ken Russell's The Devils (1971) and the "torture porn" of twenty-first-century horror.