For Woman Who Came Back, director Walter Colmes takes a leaf out of Val Lewton's book, suggesting the horror and building atmosphere rather than being too blatant. But Colmes ain't Lewton, and the majority of his film is a colossal bore.
It's a shame, because it starts off well enough: an old woman boards a bus bound for Eben, Massachusetts, and sits next to Lorna Webster (Nancy Kelly), who is returning to her home town after two years away. The old woman tells Lorna she is Jezebel Trister, a 300 year old witch who was condemned to be burnt alive by Lorna's great great grandfather; the bus then plunges over a cliff and into a lake.
Lorna is the only survivor of the accident, and she slowly comes to believe that she has been possessed by the spirit of Jezebel, despite her fiancé Dr. Matt Adams (John Loder) trying to get her to see sense. Unfortunately, the superstitious locals also think that Lorna is a witch, blaming her for the sudden sickness of Matt's niece Peggy.
What follows the crash is extremely slow and not very eventful, which makes it hard to remain focussed on the film, even with a relatively short runtime of sixty-eight minutes. Colmes most obvious Lewton-inspired scene is when Peggy's mother Ruth walks home from church, followed by a large dog that may or may not be a witch's familiar, but he fails to achieve the desired sense of menace.
After much ambiguity, the viewer never sure whether Lorna is actually possessed or going crazy, the film wraps up matters far too neatly with a weak ending (imposed by the studio?) that proves that the woman is neither a witch nor losing her mind. The creepiest thing about the whole film are those children's Halloween costumes.
It's a shame, because it starts off well enough: an old woman boards a bus bound for Eben, Massachusetts, and sits next to Lorna Webster (Nancy Kelly), who is returning to her home town after two years away. The old woman tells Lorna she is Jezebel Trister, a 300 year old witch who was condemned to be burnt alive by Lorna's great great grandfather; the bus then plunges over a cliff and into a lake.
Lorna is the only survivor of the accident, and she slowly comes to believe that she has been possessed by the spirit of Jezebel, despite her fiancé Dr. Matt Adams (John Loder) trying to get her to see sense. Unfortunately, the superstitious locals also think that Lorna is a witch, blaming her for the sudden sickness of Matt's niece Peggy.
What follows the crash is extremely slow and not very eventful, which makes it hard to remain focussed on the film, even with a relatively short runtime of sixty-eight minutes. Colmes most obvious Lewton-inspired scene is when Peggy's mother Ruth walks home from church, followed by a large dog that may or may not be a witch's familiar, but he fails to achieve the desired sense of menace.
After much ambiguity, the viewer never sure whether Lorna is actually possessed or going crazy, the film wraps up matters far too neatly with a weak ending (imposed by the studio?) that proves that the woman is neither a witch nor losing her mind. The creepiest thing about the whole film are those children's Halloween costumes.