I don't expect that too many readers are up on this movie, though several of you do surprise me at times with your depth of experience.
The Witch Who Came from the Sea was filmed in 1971, but didn't see release until 1976! Directed by the last husband of Jayne Mansfield, Matt Cimber, it's all at once gritty, unsettling, tacky and thought-provoking, among other things. Written by Robert Thom (who penned
Wild in the Streets, 1968,
Angel, Angel, Down We Go, 1969, and
Bloody Mama, 1970, if you need to gauge the crazy), his wife Millie Perkins was enlisted to play the lead. Yes, "Anne Frank" (!) starred as a frequently-topless serial killer with an eye for men. The movie is gory and sometimes uncomfortable. But as the victims are male, meaning the tables are turned from the normal type of exploitation in a horror flick, it did grab our attention!
 |
A magazine cover girl as a young lady, Perkins was hand-picked by George Stevens to test for the title role in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959.) The project made her a household name, though her movie career thereafter was scattered and inconsistent.
|
 |
In Witch, Perkins portrays a troubled, heavy-drinking woman who is easily triggered by macho men who express their sexuality. As the film opens, she is observing a collection of bodybuilders who are going through their routines on the beach.
|
 |
So far as I can tell, these men have some added stuffing in their Speedos.
|
 |
See what I mean, Vern?
|
 |
The more she watches these guys, the more fixated she becomes on their bulging biceps and bumpy bulges, all the we the viewer's benefit.
|
 |
Eventually, she begins to visualize them all experiencing deadly accidents during their workout regimens.
|
 |
Later, we find Perkins on her knees in a hotel room with a pair of football players.
|
 |
The extended scene begins friendly enough...
|
 |
Next thing you know she's pulled off her shirt and is tearing it into strips. (Do take note of the ice bucket... Holiday Inn!!)
|
 |
Gene Rutherford and Jim Sims play the ballers.
|
 |
The gents are too horny...
|
 |
...and too high to really understand what they're about to be in for.
|
 |
"Wherever we go... whatever we do... we're gonna go through it...
|
 |
| ...together!" |
 |
It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. And trust me. Someone does get hurt!
|
 |
Still another victim arrives in the form of handsome Stafford Morgan.
|
 |
This sort of guy reminds me of those who hung out with my dad when I was a pup and I find that sort of look pretty irresistible.
|
 |
Yes, I mean you!
|
 |
Morgan is a TV spokesmodel for a shaving safety razor.
|
 |
While watching and listening to his pitch, Perkins begins to see things in the ad that aren't there.
|
 |
Before her eyes, he suddenly has a razor blade out of its housing and begins to cut his own throat!
|
 |
Later on, we catch him at home - post-coitus with Perkins - giving himself a morning shave.
|
 |
Sexy as this shot is to me, he does have on a low-slung, orange towel here.
|
 |
Perkins arrives to see how things have turned out.
|
 |
Sadly, things don't turn out well at all for Morgan. But we do get to see his tantalizing tan lines in the reflection of the bathroom mirror!
|
 |
Our final featured man is that rare thing, a victim of Perkins who got away with only a broken wrist!
|
 |
Are you ready for this indoor pool that simply screams the late-'60s/early-'70s?!
|
 |
The man in the water is non other than Rick Jason!
|
 |
If you don't know, Jason was a 1950s movie actor (The Lieutenant Wore Skirts, 1956, and The Wayward Bus, 1957, to name two) who went on to costar on TV's Combat! The black & white pic here is from the 1969 Tom Tryon film Color Me Dead.
|
 |
Not only do I love the fact that Jason's character is conducting an interview with the police while relaxing in his pool with a naked tart, but I love it even more that the actor is clearly wearing nothing in real life either!
|
 |
Probably 90% or more of the actors in Tinseltown would have donned flesh-toned briefs.
|
 |
I couldn't care less about whether he's got anything to show or whether you can get a really sharp look. I just adore his attitude about it!
|
 |
The much-married Jason never quite reached the level of fame or success he would have liked, though he worked up until 1988. In 200, directly following a reunion in Las Vegas of some Combat! cast and crew, he took his own life by gunfire at age 77. (His Combat! costar Vic Morrow had perished back in 1982 in an on-set accident during the making of Twilight Zone, The Movie, 1983.)
|
 |
The Witch Who Came from the Sea is not going to be for everyone. I've presented some of the male skin without the accompanying gore. But if you're interested in seeing it, there's a widescreen print of it right now on Tubi.
|
 |
The End!
|
