The Witches Mountain (1973) User Reviews

Good location work, music and...uh... yeah, that's about it.

[capkronos · 3/10 · 10 July 2006]

Saying this movie is extremely hard to follow and just as frustrating to sit through is putting it very mildly. Also saying that the current available print is dark, dreary, scratchy, abysmally edited, painfully dubbed, seemingly censored and in almost unwatchable shape is also correct. This film is in dire need of a good remastering from the full, uncut, original negative and seeing how it's reasonably atmospheric (and won the director an award at the Catalonia Film Festival), it might actually be worth the trouble. Then again, maybe not... It's just impossible to tell in its current condition what kind of movie it actually is. It starts fairly interesting, if you can discount the completely senseless pre-credits opening sequence, which involves a deranged cat-killing, snake-loving little girl named Gerda. The girls mom, Carla (Mónica Randall, who should have laid off the eyeliner a little bit), splashes some gasoline around in the garage and torches the brat. Seemingly about as crazy as young Gerda, she goes to visit her estranged photographer (ex?) boyfriend Mario ("John"/Cihangir Caffari). He's on vacation from work, but so desperate to get away from Carla that he begs his employers to set him up on an assignment... any assignment. She scowls "You'll be sorry!" as he heads out the door. Well, Mario is assigned to photograph "Witches Mountain" (somewhere in the Pyrenees, I believe). Before he gets to his destination, he gets sight of a hottie on the beach named Delia (Patty Shepard) and snaps a few pictures of her taking off her bikini top. Only slightly peeved, she claims to be a single writer, the two flirt and then decide it would be a swell idea if they went on the trip up the mountain together. When they stop by her place so she can pack her bags, Mario suddenly hears loud, sinister music. Delia claims he's just hearing things.

So the two begin their trip up the mountain, taking a stop at a local inn to spend the night. There they encounter a weird, partially-deaf, crazy-eyed innkeeper (Victor Israel) and Delia claims someone was spying on here through her window. The next day, under some trance, she wanders off up the mountain and is eventually located by Mario, who hops out of his jeep and runs after her. While he's finding out what's up, someone steals their wheels and they're forced to walk a piece, eventually finding the jeep undamaged at the foot of a small, ancient, seeming abandoned village... almost like someone was trying to intentionally lure them there. Well as we will see, that's exactly what has happened. In the village they encounter a friendly old woman named Zanta (Ana Farra) who claims she's the only person still living there and lets them stay in her home. Mario takes some pictures of the "abandoned" city and when he develops them they are eerily full of people. Slightly creeped out, he and Delia begin to leave and get stuck in "treacherous" fog and have to pull over and camp out for the night. The rest of the movie has to do with voodoo dolls, black cats transforming into sexy women, Satanic rituals performed by ladies in their bras and a deadly fall off a cliff. And yeah, coincidentally Carla the estranged wife turns out to be one of the witches, too. It all takes place in semi-darkness and to be quite honest, I didn't know what the hell was going on most of the time. The inconclusive "open" ending is just an additional slap in the face to anyone having to suffer through the rest of this senseless mess.

Honestly, there are just a few things that stand out to me as being really good. The first is actress Shepard, who has that great Barbara Steele kind of dark, mysterious beauty. There's also an excellent music score (credited to Fernando Garcia Morcillo) and chanting songs, which aided immensely in making this film as atmospheric as it is. The location work is fairly decent, but as I said, the print is ugly as can be and it doesn't make a lick of sense, so proceed with caution on this one.

Odd But Strangely Watchable

[Rainey-Dawn · 5/10 · 15 October 2016]

The film is like other reviewers have said: Odd, strange, mesmerizing, does not make a lot of sense, watchable, weird and captivating. It's one of those European films one would have to watch to understand what is meant by watchable yet does not make a lot of sense.

Great atmosphere, appropriate music, acting not too bad, some interesting scenes, and bizarrely entertaining with a questionable script. OR maybe it's just loosing something in the translation into the English language instead of being a questionable script? I'm not sure which it is.

Anyway, if you like the older Euro-Horror films and/or movies about witches you might find something entertaining about this film as others and myself did.

The movie is NOT bloody nor gory - it's a Gothic piece with lots of eerie imagery as eye-candy.

5/10

I'll get you my pretty And your fancy mustache too!

[Coventry · 3/10 · 20 September 2006]

Okay, what the hell kind of TRASH have I been watching now? "The Witches' Mountain" has got to be one of the most incoherent and insane Spanish exploitation flicks ever and yet, at the same time, it's also strangely compelling. There's absolutely nothing that makes sense here and I even doubt there ever was a script to work with, but somehow I couldn't turn it off. The scratching your head with confusion starts right away, with an opening sequence about an angry little girl that killed her mother's cat. So you think this film revolves on children possessed by evil forces? Heck no, because after this intro, the girl and her wickedness simply aren't mentioned anymore. Then cut to a guy, with the most impressively trimmed mustache you'll ever see, who breaks up with his girlfriend in a rather unsubtle way. When she asks him to spend his vacation with her, he promptly phones his employer requesting him any type of assignment! Great move. The movie finally starts now, as he travels to an isolated mountain area to photograph some peaks. Though not before he picks up a new girl (Patty Shepard) and photographs her topless! Throughout their journey, all kind of strange events occur that – you guessed it – are never explained. The girl wakes up in the middle of the forest, loud petrifying music plays everywhere and someone even steals the jeep! Really, car jacking witches? Apparently a coven of silent witches owns the mountains and they practice voodoo on trespassers. That's as close as I get describing the plot, but there's a good chance I'm way off… More important here is the atmosphere! "The Witches' Mountain" is occasionally very creepy, with its spooky music and interesting cinematography. The supportive characters all look uncanny and the ravishing Patty Shepard plays a good heroine. This is the type of European horror film that could have been legendary, if only someone had bothered to write a structured screenplay.

Escape From THIS Witch Mountain

[BaronBl00d · 3/10 · 21 April 2006]

Highly implausible, unbelievable, and incoherent Spanish production about...well, let me see just how close I can get to it. The film opens with a woman having one of her cat's killed by a young girl. She then begs her lover to take her somewhere on his vacation. He calls work and demands that he loses his vacation time and she says he will pay for this. What relevance this plays out to is anybody's guess at the film's end, because the guy, a swarthy photographer, spies a beautiful Patty Shepard, queen of Spanish horror films it seems, taking her bikini top off momentarily so he can snap a picture, ask her out to lunch, and then to his assignment to Witches Mountain - for reasons again we are never privy to. Before they go, Patty must stop by the house and loud, "eerie" chanting echoes in our hero's ears. Again, this is never explained. The film goes on with these two stopping at an inn, going on to the mountain, and finally realizing why the mountain is called Witches Mountain. You know, there are several aspects to this film which make it better than a bad film. It has some atmosphere, some of the character actors are really quite good(especially the deaf innkeeper and the old woman), the leads are at least adequate, and the climax - though it makes absolutely no sense at all - is well-choreographed(literally) with the witches in white brassieres and long black hair. It just doesn't make any sense though, and that is a huge detractor to me. I could watch the film another ten times and still not know more now than I did after the first viewing. That is a major problem. The Witches Mountain is a curious film from the long line of cheap, atmospheric European horror films that blanketed that decade. If you can get more out of it than me, better power to you.

A photographer on assignment and a woman he just met meet some witches on a mountain who don't like visitors.

[irishjenny96 · 3/10 · 31 December 2005]

This was a fairly creepy movie; I found the music to be effective for this. The photographs Mario took of the village were also unnerving. However, I had three problems with this film. One is that the lighting was very dark so some of the time it was hard to tell what was going on, but this may have just been my copy. The second is that the very beginning is not explained very well and I'm still not sure what was going on there. The third problem is that I didn't understand the ending, but apparently some people do. Of course there are also the usual problems of people doing stupid things, and the male lead is very 70s. All in all, watchable but not even close to being a favorite.

Misty mountain tops.

[lost-in-limbo · 4/10 · 1 October 2008]

This engaging (which it shouldn't be) low-grade Spanish exploitation (quite tame I might add) looks good, but huh? Let me phrase that again 'huh?'. Actually the word 'huh?' would be going through your mind quite a lot. Nothing makes sense, nor does it try too. I just don't know if its complicatedly cryptic or just a convoluted muddle, but there's no denying how laconically uneventful, strange and wordy it feels.

Unrelated sequences tied (like that nasty opening involving a little girl, dead cat and fire) in to a sparse story involving photographer Mario (played by a chest-puffing John Caffari, who's mustache is a dead ringer for Nintendo's iconic Mario. What's the odds?) that ditches his girlfriend at home and encounters a young lady (a gorgeously fixating Patty Shepard) who he asks to come with him on an photography assignment, where at this remote mountain retreat they come across some hooded witches.

Look past the unhinged plot structure and wallow in what is simply a moody piece of atmospheric mechanisms and growing unease. Raul Artigot directs few jarringly unusual visuals and creepy passages, but for most part seems sporadically non-existent and unfocused just like his writing. Ramon Sempere's striking cinematography lenses the gracefully rich scenery as we take in the scenic views and let the time leisurely grind away. However there are certain areas where it was too dark to see what was going on. Fernando Garcia Morcillo's hauntingly bombastic and overwrought score blends terrifically with compulsively dense atmosphere created. The leads are capable, but there's also a sturdy bunch (the pick being Víctor Israel) of secondary performances.

Slow with little in the way of interest, but this dreamy set-up (that seems to go on and on) manages to keep you watching until its closing.

A very bland

[schultzalan-1 · 4/10 · 9 September 2010]

Sometimes certain films get caught in an untenable position. They want to be classy and subtle but don't have the ability to be so. Yet, they avoid elements that would make them interesting or entertaining in an effort to attain a subtlety that is far beyond their means or capabilities. "The Witches Mountain" is such a film. It so strives to attain such an atmosphere that it all but ignores any element whether it be exploitative, strange, or horrific in an effort to achieve its desired goals.

And, yet, it doesn't have the ability to generate the suspense it needs to attain such a chilling atmosphere. The film was directed by Raul Artigot, a noted cinematographer making his directorial debut. He knows how to frame a scene, and the photography is quite beautiful. But, for some strange reason, he is unable to create what a low-budget film like this needs most in it's repertoire; the haunting visual imagery so necessary to leaving an indelible mark on the memory of the viewer. All of the best low-budget horror films have indelible images, that once you think about them, shivers run down your spine. From the flesh-eating scene in "Night of the Living Dead" to the menace of Michael Meyers relentlessly pursuing Jamie Lee Curtis in "Halloween", these images create a sense of fear and dread that lasts in your subconscious. They contribute to an atmosphere of suspense that is unrelenting. Which is exactly what this movie so drastically needs. It is unable to attain the ethereal or dream-like beauty that it so longs for, thus leaving the first hour of the film suspense- less and bereft of nearly all action, leading up to a denouement that is flat and uninvolving. And, while there are a couple of surreal moments towards the end, they are much too limited to have any real impact.

As for the production itself, the cast, headed by genre stalwarts Patty Shepard, John Gaffari, and Monica Randall, is fine. But the material( A young couple encounters a witches coven while traveling through the mountainside,) is incredibly weak. Only the reliable character actor Victor Israel( "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", "Horror Express", "Goya's Ghost") is allowed to shine through as a sinister innkeeper with a hearing problem. His complex performance is one of the few bright spots in this movie. And while the photography is beautiful, the film is so poorly paced that you literally wonder if anything is going to happen. Even the musical score is a mixed bag. The instrumentals and singing do possess a lyrical, moody beauty that should have been embraced by the movie itself, but the chanting( which is meant to terrify us, I suppose) is grating on the nerves and almost too painful to listen to,

So, all in all, this movie doesn't add up to much. The film strives to be a modern Gothic horror story but cannot achieve it. It eschews all other elements in an attempt to create an emotional impact it otherwise lacks. But the only thing it creates is a tepidness that it never recovers from.

Badly transferred & dubbed, senseless film wastes a good idea

[highwaytourist · 3/10 · 13 September 2009]

I couldn't make sense of this film much of the time, and neither could anyone else, based on other reviews. The opening scene of this film has virtually nothing to do with the rest of the story. In it, a photojournalist with a big mustache cancels his vacation to get away from his girlfriend. He is assigned to photograph a mountain range. It's rumored to be haunted, but I couldn't tell whether he heard that from his boss or later in the film. On his way, he meets a beautiful writer (Patty Shepard) and convinces her to join him on his working trip. Throughout the film, there is this terrible music score, mostly consisting of noisy chanting that makes you want to scream "SHUT UP ALREADY!!!" What really will gall a person is that the film always seems like it's about to become good, though it never does. There is beautiful mountain scenery and some genuinely creepy atmosphere. The inn and the silent, abandoned old buildings scattered on the mountain are rather ominous. The foggy nights look real, not like someone put an artificial fog machine on the set. And the idea, while not original, had potential. But it never does improve, at least not enough to be worthwhile. Here's how it goes, more or less. They stop at this inn run by a weird innkeeper (you expect him to be named Igor) with a hearing problem. There is a scene where the writer thinks a peeping tom is in her window, but the scene is so dark, I had no idea what was going on. Whether this was poor lighting or a poor film transfer is unknown to me. In any event, we never find out know what happened. There is a scene where she wanders off during the night. Whether she is sleepwalking or mesmerized by the witches of the title is never explained. Another scene which is never explained is when their car is stolen, then found again, with nothing stolen. They wind up in this apparently abandoned mountain village whose sole inhabitant is this seemingly kindly old woman. There are other things, including a chained wild man in a cave who is never explained, an attempt to sacrifice the writer in some way (will they kill her or brainwash her into joining them?), the witches themselves, a bunch of brunette women in white robes who don't show up until the last 15 minutes of the film and whose practices and beliefs are never explained. Even the closing scene doesn't make any sense. When all is said and done, most people will be saying, "Huh?"

Badly edited but strangely atmospheric

[Red-Barracuda · 7/10 · 7 August 2011]

A photographer with a heroically 70's 'tache travels to a supposedly haunted mountain to get some interesting pictures. Along the way he somewhat randomly picks up a girl to accompany him. Once in the mountain vicinity, spooky things begin to happen.

Without doubt this film is confusing and illogical. Much of the reason is that it seems to have been edited together with a hacksaw. Scenes are linked together in a very haphazard way indeed. While some events really make no sense whatsoever, such as the prologue with the mother and little girl – a sequence that doesn't really seem to bear any relevance to the rest of the film. Another example of senselessness is the part where the photographer hears weird music that only he can hear – this happens well before he even reaches the haunted mountain so it just doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense.

Having said all that Witches Mountain does have a certain something going for it. What it has is a very strange atmosphere. The photography is pretty good; the mountainous region looks very mysterious and evocative. There are some interesting side characters such as the goggle-eyed inn-keeper. The music is pretty spooky. While the scene where the photographer captures mysterious images of the witches in the mountain village is very well done. So really, despite the obvious structural problems inherent in this film, the atmospherics make up for it. Just don't expect a water-tight plot or really something that makes much sense at all. But as an off-kilter moody horror flick it's not too bad really.

A flawed but strangely compelling curio from the world of Spanish horror

[lonchaney20 · 5/10 · 16 July 2015]

One of the few films directed by Artigot, a Spanish DP who worked with industry legends like Eloy de la Iglesia and Jess Franco. It's difficult to judge the film in its current condition for a few reasons: the only copies available are brutally panned-and-scanned from the original 2.35:1 ratio, the film was so heavily censored after its premiere that the final product is borderline incoherent, and the picture is so dark on the current releases that it's often impossible to tell what's going on. Nonetheless the film (which basically involves a macho photographer and his female companion getting targeted by a coven of witches) has a pleasing, sleepy ambiance, somewhat reminiscent of Arthur Machen's weird fiction. The mountain location is stunning, and the wacko soundtrack (lots of atonal choral music, and a strangely unnerving pop song) gets you through the more uneventful passages. Easily the best thing about the movie is the ludicrously masculine Cihangir Gaffari. He's even dubbed with a hilariously deep, manly voice - I believe it's the same voice actor who dubbed Paul Naschy in Count Dracula's Great Love. The film also gave me an odd Wicker Man vibe, meaning the insane version starring my beloved Nicolas Cage. This isn't as over-the-top, but like that film this has our protagonist stumbling onto a matriarchal religious sect, complete with a feral muscle man chained up in a cave who the witches use for breeding! Nicolas Cage also claims that he wanted to play Edward Malus as a macho man with a handlebar mustache, which is another interesting connection. Anyway, it's one of those quietly weird movies that I can't help but like, but anyone not obsessed with Euro-horror or handlebar mustaches probably won't find much to appreciate.

odd and trippy Spanish horror

[andrabem · 8/10 · 25 May 2008]

"El monte de las brujas" (The witches' mountain) is a strange and compelling film. I've found it casually in ebay and ordered it. The transfer of the film, made from a VHS tape, is not good, and the film obviously suffered cuts, but even so I've quite enjoyed the film.

We are introduced to Carla (Monica Randall) arriving at a house. In the house, a hysterical little girl has stabbed some dolls and killed the cat. Carla tries to calm down the girl but all to no use. The little girl (so it seems) takes a snake out of somewhere. The snake slithers slowly through the girl's hair. Carla watches everything and crouches a little. Suddenly, Fire! The beginning credits of the film start to roll followed by a weird and loud chanting. What really happened is anybody's guess.

Next scene: Mario (John Gaffari), a photographer writing for a newspaper/magazine, arrives at home. When he turns the lights on, guess who's waiting for him? Carla. She wants to resume their relationship. He says no. Carla says to Mario that he'll regret his decision. Cut.

Mario starts off for Witches' Mountain. His assignment is to take good pictures of the area. On the way there, he meets a beautiful girl on a beach. She is sunbathing topless. He takes some pictures from her and invites her to go with him to Witches' Mountain. She's Delia (Patty Shepard). She accepts his invitation, and both of them head for Witches' Mountain in Mario's car. This is, very briefly told, the beginning of the film. From then on strange small things begin to happen to them (warnings?).

The more they approach Witches' Mountain, the more ominous things become, and when they arrive there.....

The film is very atmospheric. If you like off-the-beaten-track eurohorror, this film is a must. The beautiful mountainous scenery, the dreamy night scenes in the woods haunted by dark silhouettes and weird chantings, old ruined houses, fog....

"El monte de las brujas" transmits a feeling of total spontaneity. The cameras, the actors, the landscape, the wondrous soundtrack seem to belong together. John Gaffari, as Mario, and Patty Shepard as Delia, as well as all the other actors, are excellent. "The witches' mountain" is very creative and... trippy. But if you only like horror films with lots of scares and blood, then avoid this one at all costs.

An eerie and horrific Spanish movie shot on spectacular locations in Picos de Europa , Asturias and Cantabria

[ma-cortes · 6/10 · 9 December 2020]

After an angry break-up with his fiancee : Mónica Randall , a news photographer : Gaffari , takes an assignment by the Northern Spain traveling throughout Picos de Europa (Asturias) . Along the way he meets an attractive young : Patty Shepard on the beach , whom he accords to join at the suspenseful journey across the mountains by jeep . The couple stops at a ruined hotel run by a suspicious man: Victor Israel . By the way they hear rumours that there is a nearly mountain where inhabits a coven of haunted witches.

Thrilling and frightening pic with atmospheric sets , creepy happenings , blood-curling scenes, twists and turns. It is an acceptable movie with some terror moments striking without warning. A passable horror movie that makes you shiver and quiver , being made during the best period of the Spanish Fantaterror in early 70s , when Jacinto Molina or Paul Naschy created his unforgettable horror flicks. The picture displays an eerie and mysterious musical score by Fernando García Morcillo , with plenty of medieval , religious and choral sounds that cause real fright and extreme fear . However , cinematography results to be lousy and worn-out , being necessary a perfect remastering because of the film copy is faded . And the locations are fantastic and gorgeous : Desfiladero de la Hermida , Cantabria , Asturias , Picos de Europa and Lagos or Lagoon de Covadonga : Enol and Ercina .

The picture was regularly directed by Raúl Artigot , but he creates nice terror images and atmosphere enough . Raúl Artigot was a notorious cameraman who photographed a lot of films such as : Requiem para un campesino, Plaza del Diamante, La Chica del Pijama Amarillo, La Espuela , Manuela , Los Demonios, Semana del Asesino, El Buque Maldito . And wrote/directed a few films as Bajo en Nicotina, Cabo de Vara and this El Monte de las Brujas .Rating : 5.5/10 . The yarn will appeal to Spanish terror fans

Wicca In The Pyrenees

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 28 May 2011]

Witches Mountain finds Patty Shepard and John Gaffari trying to rekindle a relationship with a working trip together. He's a photojournalist and been given assignment that takes him into the Pyrenees Mountains that border Spain and France.

Sad to say that he and Shepard run into a most unfriendly coven of witches who just don't welcome outsiders and have plans for those who don't leave quickly. Sometimes it even involves an outsider's unwilling participation in some black rites.

Only nice cinematography of the Pyrenees is the only thing that this Spanish production with some bad dubbing has going for it. Horror movie fans and occult movie fans I think will also be singularly unmoved.

Weird, just weird

[go2dean-1 · 4/10 · 23 June 2001]

This movie got off to an interesting start. Down the road however, the story gets convoluted with a poor illustration of ancient black magic rituals. The male lead was very good , even though he gets the worst end of the stick in the climax. In comparison, this is "Boomerang" meets "Extremities".

What about the knife in the wig in the very beginning???

[derekjager · 3/10 · 2 September 2009]

I admit, I had to fast forward through this poorly transferred DVD after about 30 minutes -- NOTHING was happening, and everyone has already described the "plot." But has anyone mentioned the opening scene -- a butcher knife is stabbed through a wig and it's impaled on the grass in the front yard! I'm guessing the bratty kid did it, put it's never explained. Really trippy opening.

I wish this had been a better written or thought out film, because what we're left with if pretty daft and a movie that makes no sense isn't a "clever" movie, it's just a poorly executed film.

I would like to see a cleaned up version and if there was any missing footage, I would like to see if it would help. Otherwise, this is an odd little film that is best if fast-forwarded through!

Beware the witches! that are...um..somewhere.... doing.... something...

[vegeta3986 · 1/10 · 1 August 2009]

Welcome to movie 17 on the chilling classics 50 pack. Where we'll see, That's right. Another movie that makes absolutely no sense. Seriously, this movie had me so confused at the end, i thought i was rewatching "At Dawn they Sleep." The plot seems simple enough....well that is until 3 seconds into the movie where a girl supposedly killed a cat and then...um.. explodes? i have no idea what happened. and that was BEFORE THE TITLE SCREEN. That's really sad when i can't even tell what happened in the first 3 minutes.

Anyway it stars a photographer with a big mustache who finds this girl after dumping his other girlfriend on the way to take pictures of something somewhere. so we get there but not before somebody steals their jeep to drive it 200 feet out of the way towards a town. suspicious? nah. so they decide to stay at this deserted village with one old lady. and then blah blah stuff happens and blah blah talking. The guy with the mustache goes out in the fog for some reason even though the old lady tells him not to. He gets lost and then finds his way back.

Oh, i forgot to mention this is all after an incredibly pointless 20 minutes of them staying in the house of a guy who looks like that buggy eyed guy from casablanca. Then they leave. There's really no point to this scene. It's really just padding. if you cut it out no one would have noticed or cared.

But sadly, that was actually the best part of the movie. wait. let me rephrase that. REALLY sadly that was the best part of the movie. because the rest is so confusing that i had to look on IMDb to find out what happened. But of course no one else knows so i'm SOL.

Seriously, the last 30 minutes of the movie were some of the most mindscrewing moments i've ever seen on film. They dressed her up in a dress, he gets kidnapped, then released, he runs back to the house, then at the end the witches are in the house and it ends? seriously. i have hardly ever been so confused in a movie. i mean, as bad as movies such as "War of the Robots" are, at least they MAKE SENSE. this movie doesn't even make the ATTEMPT to be coherent. the ending was as confusing as the end of "At dawn they sleep" and the plot was much more boring. This movie gets a 1 just for its sheer "i have no idea what happened in this movie"ness. "Witches mountain" gets 1 confused movie watcher out of 10.

Convoluted and Endless

[Hitchcoc · 3/10 · 8 January 2007]

I was never quite sure where this thing was going. These people seem interested in what is going on on some mountain. They investigate, have narrow escapes, leave, come back, leave, put each other in danger, sleepwalk, get attacked by witches who have consistent wardrobes, etc., etc. The guy seems to like the girl, but leaves her unprotected numerous times. She gets taken off, he gets her back, leaves her again. You get the point. The whole thing seems to get around to some sort of sacrifice, I think, but I'm not sure, or turning people into witches, but I'm not sure. It's just dull and endless and not worth the time. There are some atmospheric scenes, but the print is so bad that there times when twenty seconds of blackness is not unusual. Is this caused by age or the overuse of night filters.

Weird, just weird

[FTradio · 4/10 · 4 May 1999]

This movie got off to an interesting start. Down the road however, the story gets convoluted with a poor illustration of ancient black magic rituals. The male lead was very good , even though he gets the worst end of the stick in the climax. In comparison, this is "Boomerang" meets "Extremities".

Not as bad as you might think

[Zeegrade · 7/10 · 10 March 2009]

Witches' Mountatin begins with an exasperated woman who is driven to burning her admittedly bratty daughter. This woman is the wife of Mario, who looks as if he walked off a porno set, a newspaper photographer who is so turned off by spending time with her that he calls his boss and demands that he cancel his vacation and send him on any assignment available. He gets his wish in the form of a mountain community that is supposedly haunted. As Mario travels to the mountain he comes across a blued-eyed, raven haired beauty, Delia played by Patty Shepard. After a quick introduction that began by Mario photographing her topless, a shot not afforded the viewer much to my chagrin, she agrees to accompany him to the mountain. Once they arrive both Mario and Delia realize that there is truth to the rumors. All does not end well.

What turned me on most about this movie was how smart it was written. Too many times the lead characters remain stupid just to advance the plot. When Mario comes across something that seems odd he doesn't accept it as face value but rather questions why it so. The face Delia sees in her second floor window prompts just such an example. The use of the music was very effective as well as it added to the eerie atmosphere. The Witches' Mountain doesn't offer anything new or original and is very tame (no nudity and PG level violence) but what it does well is present a quick paced story that kept me interested to the end. A true surprise indeed! Give it a view.

Lovely scenery marred by incomprehensible story

[Phil Reeder · 2/10 · 23 March 2009]

As someone else mentioned, it begins with a bizarre prologue about a little blond girl killing a cat. Then the main story: a photographer (Gaffari) and a writer (Shepard) meet by chance and take a trip into the mountains. First they spend the night at an inn where the slightly deaf landlord gets hollered at, with increasing irritation to the audience, by Gaffari. Once in the mountains they seek shelter again and are invited in by a kindly old lady who seems overly hospitable to strangers (Hansel and Gretel, anyone?) What happens next I will leave for the bold viewer to sort out because I most assuredly couldn't. Now, I like Eurohorror, and this woulda been better if only Artigot (writer AND director) had made some attempt at logical story telling. The backdrop (Pyrenees?) makes an excellent and intriguing location for mysterious and occult occurrences. The verdant peaks could easily obscure supernatural forces and those who command them. The photography is nice. Just wish the whole thing made sense. You can view this film at archive.org.

An enjoyably clunky Spanish horror flick

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 10 June 2007]

The strikingly comely Patty Shepard portrays a lovely sprite writer who along with jerky hairball photographer John Caffari discovers an evil coven of wicked witches living on a remote mountainside. Naturally, said coven have designs on making poor imperiled Patty their next sacrificial victim. Writer/director Raul Artigot (a cinematographer who shot "The Demons" for Jess Franco) trots out all the standard endearingly hokey scare tactics: an annoying little girl gets torched in the shocking pre-credits epilogue, shrieking black mass incantations on the soundtrack, bothersome black cats that turn into people, unsung character actor Victor Israel (the whistling train baggage handler in "Horror Express") as a creepy near deaf innkeeper, dense, all-encompassing fog, even mysterious sinister hooded figures roaming the misty woods at night! Ramon Sempere's exquisitely expansive photography and the ripely verdant countryside scenery give this likably clumsy outing an eye-filling picturesque look. Nice quintessentially 70's downbeat ending, too. Overall, this picture sizes up as a pleasingly atmospheric, if rather talky and leisurely paced fright flick programmer.

An effective slice of Euro-horror.

[parry_na · 7/10 · 21 September 2019]

Some exotic, operatic music opens this film in dramatic style, and makes frequent returns throughout. Sometimes it is used as the soundtrack, and it is also heard by the hero Mario often overpowering him. But who knows what it signifies?

Cihangir Gaffari's Mario is a magnificently bouffanted, heroically moustachioed slice of the 1970s. He explores the caverns and mountainous wastes of the film's title, medallion glinting in the sunshine. He is Peter Wyndgarde and Engelbert Humperdinck rolled into one. As a character, he is solid rather than likeable, and certainly not as belittling to his female co-star as many males in films of this era - even if he is just as glamorous. Delia is played by Patty Shepard, who has become a prolific face in Spanish, Italian and French horror. Possibly her most notable performance remains the vampire Countess in Paul Naschy's successful and influential 'La Noche de Walpurgis'. Here, together with Gaffari, they make a good team, with Delia rarely reduced to 'the screamer' - although the various set-pieces give her good reason to!

Raúl Artigot's story meanders and is occasionally incomprehensible. However, alongside 'The Devil's Wedding Night' (with which this film shares a DVD), it is more about moments than a linear, flowing narrative. The first sequence, for example, featuring a petulant child being indulged by her ineffectual mother, doesn't appear to have anything to do with anything that happens subsequently! Equally, Mario's first meeting with Delia is similarly murky: fresh from breaking up with his girlfriend Carla (Mónica Randall - who I think is the mother from the preceding prologue), the photographer stumbles across the sunbathing Delia and proceeds to take photos of her near-nakedness, which she is perfectly happy about. Grounds for an ongoing relationship, clearly!

After this, the two of them travel to the mountain as part of Mario's unspecified assignment and encounter all manner of creepy characters, including a tone-deaf innkeeper and a mysterious old woman (all convincingly played), before a grand finale which appears to tie all the events together - except it doesn't really. I enjoyed this, much as I enjoy a lot of European horror from this period. My score is 7 out of 10.

Sleep inducing bore

[preppy-3 · 1/10 · 8 May 2011]

Terrible "horror" movie about photographer Mario (Cihangir Gaffari) going out to take pictures of a mountain believed to be haunted by witches. He (inexplicably) picks up a girl along the way named Delia (Patty Shepard) who happily agrees to go along with him. They get to the mountain and find out that there might be witches who do NOT like their territory invaded.

VERY slow-moving, incomprehensible and endless movie. There are countless sequences of people walking around or doing things that go on forever! The bad dubbing doesn't help and the DVD print I saw was of such poor quality that I couldn't make out WHAT was going on at times. The story (sort of) makes sense at the end and picks up a little by I was so utterly bored by that point I could have cared less. Also if you're watching for gore or nudity...forget it. There isn't any. I can't really judge the acting because they were dubbed but it seemed OK. However Gaffari has a HUGE mustache on that was distracting. Back in the early 1970s that was in style but it seems pretty stupid today. This was one of the many Mexican films sold directly to American TV...and one of the worst. Rightfully obscure. You can skip this one.

Spanish horror is always strange

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 9 November 2018]

Known in Spain as El Monte de las Brujas, this 1972 effort comes to us from director Raúl Artigot, who was the cinematographer on The Ghost Galleon (released in the U.S. as Horror of the Zombies) and The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein.

The opening of this movie is Cathy's Curse level insanity: Carla walks around her house and finds a knife stuck in a wig, a voodoo doll and finally, a bloody cat in her bed. That's when a little girl appears and tells her that she took care of the stupid cat before running away to look for another animal. Carla follows her to the garage, throws gasoline all over the place and sets everything - including the little girl - on fire.

That's just the start of this movie. The next scene has nothing to do with any of that, as photojournalist Mario (Cihangir Gaffari, Jess Franco's The Demons) breaks up with Carla and decides to not go on vacation with her, instead calling his office and begging for an assignment. Soon, he's on his way to the Pyrenees Mountains in northern Spain. Soon, he meets freelance writer Delia (Patty Shepard, who not only appeared in numerous Paul Naschy movies like La Noche de Walpurgis (The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman) and Los Monstruos del Terror (Assignment: Terror) as well as Hannah, Queen of the Vampires and Slugs), who joins him on his trip.

They decide to stop at an ancient hotel that's staffed by a man who sounds like every bad Igor impression. And then they learn of a mountain that's haunted by a coven of witches, so they decide to go check it out.

Keep in mind that the beginning of this movie has nothing to do with things until the end, that Mario is a horrible hero and that you will hear chanting ala The Exorcist and The Omen for the entire running time of this movie. Do you want a shock ending, too? Of course, we can get that for you!

Avco Embassy included this movie as part of their Nightmare Theater package that was syndicated for television in 1975. The others are Marta, Death Smiles on a Murderer, A Bell from Hell, Maniac Mansion, Night of the Sorcerers, Fury of the Wolfman, Hatchet for the Honeymooon, Horror Rises from the Tomb, Dear Dead Delilah, Doomwatch, Mummy's Revenge and The Witch.

The Mitches Wountain

[Bezenby · 4/10 · 22 February 2017]

This is yet another film where you should probably watch it without the aid of booze or sleeping pills or whatever as barely anything happens at all for its entire running time. That said, it's not a total failure, but it's not that good either.

After a fairly interesting start where a woman finds her cat stabbed to death by a young girl, then sets that young girl on fire, said woman goes to lay it on Fatal Attraction style with her ex, photographer Mario (and that is one THICK moustache that man has on him). Mario's not taking her insane advances too well, so he cancels his vacation and takes an assignment to go to Witches Mountain to take pictures of stuff.

So far, so early seventies European horror. Mario heads off and somehow hooks up with a woman he was taking topless picture of on the fly. The two of them head off to Witches Mountain and the film kind of grinds to a halt.

Uneventful, or atmospheric? Brooding or boring? That's up to you. Me, I had a hard time keeping my eyes open as these two wandered around the brooding, atmospheric Spanish landscape in a uneventful, boring way. There are touches here and there that saves the film from being a total flatliner (like the guy taking creepy pictures, the start of the film, others) but this isn't the best Euro-horror I've watched. At all.