This witchcraft story must have scared the cowlicks off the kids at the Saturday matinee in 1960. It’s still entertaining today. Over a mere seventy-seven minutes, it ripples with the muscle of a classic horror story, full of dreadful atmosphere, clam chowder fog, hooded figures in the night and supernatural scares. A wholesome college girl in modern times decides to write her term paper on the legend of a witch burned at the stake in 1692 and said to have summoned a curse on the town that did it. She travels to that very location for research (ignoring the warning of a wise gas station attendant on the way) and runs into problems that have nothing to do with MLA formatting. Her professor is Christopher Lee, whom we already know not to trust because he’s Christopher Lee. The ending has some stupid moments that make you want to yell at strangers on the bus about it, but overall this is a good one that keeps moving. It’s set in New England in the States, but was made in the actual England in Europe with a cast who put on their American accents. Director John Moxey makes his feature debut here and would go on to a crazy busy career in television.