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Virgin Witch
[Redemption]
1972; color
Directed by Ray Austin
Starring: Ann Michelle, Vicki Michelle, Keith Buckley, Patricia Haines, James Chase & Paula Wright
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I'm not gonna lie, I started rolling my eyes and complaining about watching this movie before I even hit the play button, based on the plot synopsis: "Two young models who are lured by a lecherous lesbian to spend a weekend at a country house being photographed by a trendy photographer. In reality, Ann is being set up for a virgin sacrifice and induction into a witch's coven. Chock-a-block with sex, lesbianism, lurid seventies fashions, dodgy witches and even dodgier warlocks, Virgin Witch is a prime concoction of British Exploitation Cinema!" For the record, not because I have anything against sex, lesbianism, lurid seventies fashions, dodgy witches or even dodgier warlocks. (In fact, I quite enjoy sex and lurid seventies fashions. Although not usually at the same time.) More because I have seen a lot of movies in the past couple of years featuring an abundance of pointless nudity and sketchy plotlines involving lesbian witches, lesbian vampires, lesbian vampire witches, etc. and, really, if you've seen one of this type of film you don't need to see too many more. They're all pretty much the same film. (Plus, you know, images of nude women are not all that hard to come by. You can see pretty much the same amount of boobs and butts featured in one of these movies browsing the magazine racks at Borders and, for the most part, they'll be much better lit.) Now that I have seen this particular lesbian witch movie however, I must admit I actually enjoyed watching it. It was very entertaining! Not really a good movie per se, but still fun and with a bit more nudge-nudge wink-wink than your typical lesbian witch flick. I think the key factor for me was lead actress Ann Michelle, who is lovely to look at and fantastic in her role as the more daring of the two models / sisters. She also has the best kooky intense stare I've seen in a long time. (At the risk of spoiling a classic moment in the film, her gaze is powerful enough to make a glossy 8 x 10 headshot to burst into flames! Truthfully it was more of a slow ignition, followed by a healthy burn, but it was still pretty bad ass.) The woman who plays her sister, Vicki Michelle - apparently her literal sister - is also lovely and did a fine job but Ann has the meatier role. I also liked the scary matronly lesbian witch and the way she spits out lines like "You must abide by the rules, and the first rule is obedience!" In a fairly stunning twist of fate I'm going to have to actually agree with the box cover I made snarky comments about earlier and say Virgin Witch is a relatively prime concoction of British exploitation cinema. Certainly not for everybody; but as far as fans of the genre go, worth a try.
—Bunny
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