Cry of the Banshee Movie Review

Trailer here.

Cry of the Banshee is a 1970 horror movie, directed by Gordon Hessler and starring Vincent Price, Hilary Dwyer, Essy Persson, Hugh Griffith, Patrick Mower, Elisabeth Bergner and Sally Geeson.

The film is set in England in the sixteenth century. A court has a young woman accused of witchcraft. Locals throw things at her. A local man tells the magistrate, Lord Edward Whitman(Price) that there is a creature killing his sheep. Lord Edward offers a reward for its head. Whitman is an evil man. A brother and sister are brought to him. They are peasants from the village. A howling is heard outside. They think that the two are marked by the devil and Edward stabs the boy. The girl is shot.Whitman's wife, Lady Patricia(Persson) is shocked and calls him a murderer. She says that their house is cursed. Edward's son, Sean(Stephan Chase) comes onto her and rapes her. Edward's other son, Harry(Carl Rigg) comes home from college. 

Maureen(Dwyer) is Whitman's daughter and she is having an affair with a servant called Roderick(Mower). Sean goes to the local inn and he tries it on with a serving wench, He and his pals accuse a girl of witchcraft. Maggie is her name. Sean wants to know about the local coven. He finds out that the leader is a women called Oona(Bergner). He rounds up a posse and they go to get the witches. Oona gets angry. Soldiers kill and capture more of the coven. Oona is spared but she is very angry and curses the Whitman family. She calls Roderick and she wants him to be her avenger. Sean gets killed after he hears howling and sees something menacing. Edward is upset. Oona is very happy. Edward thinks that it is some kind of mad dog. They see it and shoot at it.

Lady Patricia is not well. She knows that there is a curse on the family. The locals think that she is evil. Edward figures out that Oona is behind his son's death. He and his lackeys look for her. They torture her friends. Roderick kills Patricia. He is some sort of animal. The local priest and Harry look for Oona. Meanwhile. Edward discovers Roderick with his daughter and goes mad. He throws Roderick in the dungeon. Oona arrives at a tomb where Harry and the priest are waiting. They see her curse Maureen. Roderick breaks out of his prison. Maureen is looking for him. Roderick attacks her. The priest intervenes. Harry kills Oona. Maureen doesn't die. Edward is looking for Roderick. He is coming for Maureen. She lets him in. Edward tries to kill him. Roderick turns into the creature/banshee. Maureen shoots him and she and Edward leave with Harry. 

Edwards goes to see Roderick's grave, but the body is not there. Edward is horrified. He finds his son and daughter dead in the carriage. The carriage driver called Bully Boy is also dead. Roderick is in the seat now and he takes Edward and his two dead children off with him. This film was pretty good. It does have a Hammer feel about it. Price is good, as always, and it feels like he is taking some inspiration from his character in Witchfinder General here. I'm not complaining though. He does his job well and he is surrounded by a good cast. This is a lot of fun and it is well worth watching. I will give it a 6/10.