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Witchfinder General

 Witchfinder General
type
TVTItem
 Witchfinder General
label
Witchfinder General
 Witchfinder General
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WitchfinderGeneral
 Witchfinder General
comment
The most famous film by British 1960s horror studio Tigon British Film Productions (even though everyone assumes that it must have been by Hammer). Witchfinder General, known in the USA as "The Conqueror Worm", starred horror icon Vincent Price as the notorious seventeenth-century fanatic Matthew Hopkins, the eponymous self-styled Witchfinder General. Initially condemned by critics for its graphic violence, but a modest commercial success, the film has become a celebrated Cult Classic of British rural horror.
 Witchfinder General
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2024-02-15T03:15:41Z
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2024-02-15T03:15:41Z
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Dropped link to HistoricalDomainCharacter: Not a Feature - IGNORE
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DBTropes
 Witchfinder General / int_121b3725
type
Age Lift
 Witchfinder General / int_121b3725
comment
Age Lift: Hopkins, who was in his late twenties at the oldest at the time of his death, was played by Vincent Price, who was fifty-six years of age when the film was made.
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Witchfinder General / int_121b3725
 Witchfinder General / int_141a6acb
type
Madness Mantra
 Witchfinder General / int_141a6acb
comment
Madness Mantra: When Richard is denied his final revenge on Hopkins.
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1.0
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 Witchfinder General / int_1439161f
type
Heroic BSoD
 Witchfinder General / int_1439161f
comment
Heroic BSoD: Richard gets a short thousand-yard stare when he realizes Sara is telling him that Hopkins defiled her.
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 Witchfinder General / int_197b546a
type
Scarpia Ultimatum
 Witchfinder General / int_197b546a
comment
Scarpia Ultimatum: Initially downplayed but later made even worse. Hopkins declares Sara's uncle to be a witch and starts torturing him, until she, and not Hopkins, comes up with the idea of offering him sex to let her father go. He agrees, but when his depraved minion Stearne rapes her, he treats her as betraying him and has her uncle tortured and killed.
 Witchfinder General / int_197b546a
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Witchfinder General / int_197b546a
 Witchfinder General / int_19851b86
type
The Sociopath
 Witchfinder General / int_19851b86
comment
The Sociopath: Matthew Hopkins, who pretends to be a Puritan hunting witches, but is really just torturing random women to death for money. John Stearne. While Hopkins at least tries to pass for someone who genuinely wants to rid the world of evil, Stearne is an Obviously Evil sadist who makes no attempt whatsoever to hide that he's only working with Hopkins so he can hurt people.
 Witchfinder General / int_19851b86
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Witchfinder General / int_19851b86
 Witchfinder General / int_21d70919
type
Crapsack World
 Witchfinder General / int_21d70919
comment
Crapsack World: England is portrayed as a country gripped in civil war, where the general chaos has led to the people becoming superstitious. Many con men have cropped up in this time of trouble, torturing and killing with impunity under the guise of finding witches.
 Witchfinder General / int_21d70919
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 Witchfinder General / int_2d4fa515
type
Ax-Crazy
 Witchfinder General / int_2d4fa515
comment
Ax-Crazy: Richard is quite literally driven to this by the end.
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 Witchfinder General / int_352def2a
type
Burn the Witch!
 Witchfinder General / int_352def2a
comment
Burn the Witch!: Several extremely graphic and gruesome witch-burning scenes.
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 Witchfinder General / int_40cc0c7e
type
Bittersweet Ending
 Witchfinder General / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: Hopkins is dead, and his reign of terror in England is presumably over, but Marshall and Sara are severely traumatised and possibly permanently insane as a result of their terrible experiences.
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Witchfinder General / int_40cc0c7e
 Witchfinder General / int_4215e705
type
Graceful Ladies Like Purple
 Witchfinder General / int_4215e705
comment
Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Sara in the last act of the film is wearing a violet dress, which only serves to highlight her virtue and valor.
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Witchfinder General / int_4215e705
 Witchfinder General / int_424c9a9b
type
Cold-Blooded Torture
 Witchfinder General / int_424c9a9b
comment
Cold-Blooded Torture: Lots and lots, as you'd expect from the concept.
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Witchfinder General / int_424c9a9b
 Witchfinder General / int_4ac8b81f
type
Humans Are the Real Monsters
 Witchfinder General / int_4ac8b81f
comment
Humans Are the Real Monsters: The film has no actual supernatural content, and demonstrates that human fanaticism, corruption and cruelty can create worse horrors than any magical monster.
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 Witchfinder General / int_4dd42a04
type
Self-Surgery
 Witchfinder General / int_4dd42a04
comment
Self-Surgery: Stearne is shot in the shoulder while fighting some soldiers who's intended to confiscate his mare. Left alone and bleeding, he sets about extracting the bullet himself with his knife, and his screams are heard as the camera pans up to the overhanging trees.
 Witchfinder General / int_4dd42a04
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 Witchfinder General / int_51ed5fb9
type
Straw Hypocrite
 Witchfinder General / int_51ed5fb9
comment
Straw Hypocrite: Hopkins is portrayed as a Manipulative Bastard who claims to be a strongly principled Puritan, but is simply using it as a ruse to get the town's people's trust as a stepping stone from going through their hearts to get to their wallets.
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 Witchfinder General / int_56515a39
type
Artistic License – History
 Witchfinder General / int_56515a39
comment
Artistic License – History: You can read about it here at The Other Wiki. Though its worth noting that the novel it adapted its story from also uses some Artistic License.
 Witchfinder General / int_56515a39
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Witchfinder General / int_56515a39
 Witchfinder General / int_5af55436
type
Forced to Watch
 Witchfinder General / int_5af55436
comment
Forced to Watch: It's no coincidence that Richard has to watch Sara be tortured first.
 Witchfinder General / int_5af55436
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1.0
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1.0
 Witchfinder General
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Witchfinder General / int_5af55436
 Witchfinder General / int_7133e180
type
Heroic Seductress
 Witchfinder General / int_7133e180
comment
Heroic Seductress: Sara wisely realises that Hopkins wants to sleep with her, and uses the opportunity to get him to spare Father Lowes in exchange.
 Witchfinder General / int_7133e180
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1.0
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Witchfinder General / int_7133e180
 Witchfinder General / int_7c0bfb83
type
Obviously Evil
 Witchfinder General / int_7c0bfb83
comment
John Stearne. While Hopkins at least tries to pass for someone who genuinely wants to rid the world of evil, Stearne is an Obviously Evil sadist who makes no attempt whatsoever to hide that he's only working with Hopkins so he can hurt people.
 Witchfinder General / int_7c0bfb83
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Witchfinder General / int_7c0bfb83
 Witchfinder General / int_80ef74c3
type
Fictionalized Death Account
 Witchfinder General / int_80ef74c3
comment
Fictionalized Death Account: Matthew Hopkins probably died of consumption, although one account has him ironically tried and executed for witchcraft by an unnamed individual. The film ends with him being axed by a fictional Roundhead, before another Roundhead puts him out of his misery by shooting him.
 Witchfinder General / int_80ef74c3
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 Witchfinder General / int_8591611a
type
Shameful Strip
 Witchfinder General / int_8591611a
comment
Shameful Strip: Downplayed but one of the methods of torture has Stearne drilling into the victim's back. Naturally the clothing has to be ripped for that to happen.
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Witchfinder General / int_8591611a
 Witchfinder General / int_96362a61
type
Torture Porn
 Witchfinder General / int_96362a61
comment
Torture Porn: The film was considered to be this when first released, and is still disturbing today. The director Michael Reeves disagreed strongly when critics brought this up, and he especially resented when the playwright Alan Bennett said that he felt the film's violence should have been offset with comic relief:
 Witchfinder General / int_96362a61
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Witchfinder General / int_96362a61
 Witchfinder General / int_970c790a
type
Big Bad
 Witchfinder General / int_970c790a
comment
Big Bad: Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General.
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Witchfinder General / int_970c790a
 Witchfinder General / int_97d97c28
type
Revenge Before Reason
 Witchfinder General / int_97d97c28
comment
Revenge Before Reason: Richard is told by his subordinates that he should speak to the magistrates and his superiors about Hopkins, but Richard feels that he must kill Hopkins on his own. He also compromises his duty as a soldier to conduct his personal vendetta.
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 Witchfinder General / int_9b73b497
type
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You
 Witchfinder General / int_9b73b497
comment
The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: A very disturbing example, as the soldier's Mercy Kill on the injured Hopkins sends Marshall into a psychotic rage at having his full vengeance "stolen".
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 Witchfinder General / int_a110e36d
type
Campbell Country
 Witchfinder General / int_a110e36d
comment
Campbell Country: One of the Trope Codifiers of English rural horror.
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 Witchfinder General / int_a2b38d3b
type
Eye Scream
 Witchfinder General / int_a2b38d3b
comment
Eye Scream: Stearne's ultimate fate, which pales in comparison to what happens to Hopkins immediately after.
 Witchfinder General / int_a2b38d3b
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Witchfinder General / int_a2b38d3b
 Witchfinder General / int_a3912d0e
type
Sexy Discretion Shot
 Witchfinder General / int_a3912d0e
comment
Sexy Discretion Shot: The implication that Sara is offering herself to Hopkins is shown with Toplessness from the Back, before cutting away.
 Witchfinder General / int_a3912d0e
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Witchfinder General / int_a3912d0e
 Witchfinder General / int_a8a5e4ed
type
Christianity Is Catholic
 Witchfinder General / int_a8a5e4ed
comment
Christianity is Catholic: Initially averted - the film touches on the divisions within the Church of England, and the fact that Reverend Lowes is targeted partly because the Puritans consider his High Church practices too close to Catholicism; but in the final scene we see Puritan soldiers making the sign of the cross, a very un-Puritan thing to do.
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 Witchfinder General / int_aac4eeae
type
Same Language Dub
 Witchfinder General / int_aac4eeae
comment
Same Language Dub: Robert Russell was dubbed by Bernard Kay.
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 Witchfinder General / int_b9af5ef3
type
The Film of the Book
 Witchfinder General / int_b9af5ef3
comment
The Film of the Book: It is based upon the 1966 novel of the same name by author Ronald Bassett.
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Witchfinder General / int_b9af5ef3
 Witchfinder General / int_b9c673a6
type
Market-Based Title
 Witchfinder General / int_b9c673a6
comment
Market-Based Title: Known as The Conqueror Worm in the USA to turn it into a Dolled-Up Installment of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, many of which had featured Price.
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 Witchfinder General / int_c02a3bf2
type
Imperiled in Pregnancy
 Witchfinder General / int_c02a3bf2
comment
Imperiled in Pregnancy: One of Hopkins's victims begs to spared because she is "with child" (although it's not known if she was or was lying in the hopes of pity). Either way she's ducked with the other two. She drowns, and Hopkins declares that she was innocent after all.
 Witchfinder General / int_c02a3bf2
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Witchfinder General / int_c02a3bf2
 Witchfinder General / int_c3ae004a
type
Re-Cut
 Witchfinder General / int_c3ae004a
comment
Re-Cut: A particularly complex range of alternate versions. Many versions, especially the UK one, were heavily cut to censor the graphic violence and torture scenes. Unconnectedly, the film's producers added additional scenes, in particular to certain European releases, featuring sex and nudity between Hopkins's henchmen and bar girls, which the director, Michael Reeves, was very unhappy with. Reeves's early death meant that he wasn't around in the home video age to advise on an official "director's cut". There are a number of quite different versions circulating that have been released for home video, screened in cinemas, or broadcast, some of which contain both the violence and the sex, some of which contain only one of them, and some of which have neither.
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 Witchfinder General / int_c66f2bb5
type
Witch Hunt
 Witchfinder General / int_c66f2bb5
comment
Witch Hunt: What Hopkins claims is his mission.
 Witchfinder General / int_c66f2bb5
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1.0
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Witchfinder General / int_c66f2bb5
 Witchfinder General / int_da3043c5
type
Fake Ultimate Hero
 Witchfinder General / int_da3043c5
comment
Fake Ultimate Hero: Hopkins is an uncomedic, darker example of this trope.
 Witchfinder General / int_da3043c5
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1.0
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Witchfinder General / int_da3043c5
 Witchfinder General / int_da53340
type
Religious Horror
 Witchfinder General / int_da53340
comment
Religious Horror: One of the central tropes of the film, in a religion-gone-bad sense.
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1.0
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Witchfinder General / int_da53340
 Witchfinder General / int_dc579c91
type
Contrived Coincidence
 Witchfinder General / int_dc579c91
comment
Contrived Coincidence: Sara flees Brandestown to take up residence in Lavenham, in the hopes that she'll be safe from Hopkins. It just so happens that's the town Hopkins decides to go to after nearly being captured by Richard.
 Witchfinder General / int_dc579c91
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 Witchfinder General / int_dcbe8a6e
type
Chekhov's Gunman
 Witchfinder General / int_dcbe8a6e
comment
Chekhov's Gunman: When Elizabeth Clarke is being burned, a man called Paul (presumably her lover) is seen being restrained. Paul later shows up to try and take revenge on Hopkins as he's framing Richard and Sara. Although he's shot before he can do anything directly, he's able to tell Richard's comrades where they've gone.
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 Witchfinder General / int_e16217f8
type
Historical Villain Upgrade
 Witchfinder General / int_e16217f8
comment
Historical Villain Upgrade: Hopkins is turned into a far more cruel, monstrous individual in this film than what surviving historical documents would attest to.
 Witchfinder General / int_e16217f8
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 Witchfinder General / int_e4b69188
type
Very Loosely Based on a True Story
 Witchfinder General / int_e4b69188
comment
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Apart from the characters of Hopkins and Stearne and some of their torture techniques, all of the film is fictitious.
 Witchfinder General / int_e4b69188
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 Witchfinder General / int_e663d3ef
type
Only a Flesh Wound
 Witchfinder General / int_e663d3ef
comment
Only a Flesh Wound: Stearne seems to forget that he was shot in the shoulder by the time the third act rolls around.
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 Witchfinder General / int_f3626b09
type
Mercy Kill
 Witchfinder General / int_f3626b09
comment
Mercy Kill: One of the soldiers does this to Hopkins, who is still alive after being savagely hacked with an axe by Marshall. As he only has one bullet, he realizes too late that he can't put Marshall out of his misery, leaving Marshall to go finally and fully insane.
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ItemName
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Witchfinder General

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Angst? What Angst? / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Fictionalized Death Account / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Folk Horror / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Heroic Seductress / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Job Title / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Presumed Flop / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Re-Cut / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Religious Horror / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Sadist / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Self-Surgery / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Torture Porn / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Witch Hunt / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Witch Works / int_f1813675
 Witchfinder General
hasFeature
Scarpia Ultimatum / int_f1813675