Not so virginal viewing : Virgin Witch (1972)

She's The Girl With The Power... To Turn You On! To Turn You Off!

Two girls, Christine and her sister Betty, are running away to London to try their hand at modeling. They are picked up by a guy that has “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” written all over him. During the drive, we learn that Christine is the more mature of the two and possesses some powers. They stay at his place that night. The next day, Christine zeros in on an ad for a famous agency. She goes in for an interview and strips nude for the owner, Sybil Waite. After taking her measurements, she takes a call from a photographer that needs a model for the following day. Christine uses her powers of persuasion to get the assignment.

She goes back to the sleaze ball’s flat to find him all over Betty. Christine is disgusted but has no time to stew because she has job to get ready for. She and Betty travel to a castle in the country for a photo shoot with Peter, the photographer.

After a tour, she gets to work, nude modeling all over the lush landscape. After one of the greatest lines of all time,  “I’m trying to get an angle, take your jeans off”, Peter and Christine are doing the old “in and out”. Meanwhile, Betty is having a game of hide and seek with a strange young man. While hiding from him, she finds a dark room with demonic gold sculptures. Sybil soon becomes suspicious of Betty and sets out to rein her in.

Betty passes out from fright and awakens in a bed with an older gentleman hovering over her. He introduces himself as Gerald Amberly, the owner of the castle.  After getting Betty under control, Sybil looks for Christine and is angry to find that Peter is all up in her “fruit bowl”! Sybil threatens Peter but he doesn’t care, he has his eyes on the prize.   

At dinner that evening, Amberly tells the girls that he is a witch and this is his private coven.  He wants to bring Christine in and have her at the upcoming sabbath.  Christine gives herself to Amberly for kicks, only to learn that they want more, they want a Virgin Witch!

A lot of people feel that this film has too much sex and not enough horror.  First of all, you can never have too much sex, unless the people in the movie are ugly (not the case) or if it is a movie about abstinence (I wouldn’t watch it). Secondly, I feel that the sex is a plot point in this film and the horror is a buildup, much like The Wickerman, Horror Hotel or the Stepford Wives. Christine’s goal is power and we see that at various early points in the film before it takes center stage in her battle of wills with Sybil.

Also, she is not the “Virgin Witch” but the discovery of a possible candidate is what leads to the final confrontation between Christine and Sybil. This is not a tale of good and evil, but a tale of dabblers and those of pure intent. Christine doesn’t wear a sign over her head that says “powerful bitch”, as the coven seems to need to proclaim themselves witches for shock value.  This is one of the underlined themes of the film just as Betty doesn’t need to be plastic and prudish to embody innocence.

Ann Michelle of Psychomania fame is fantastic as Christine, sexy and playful, but also evil and manipulative. Once again she shows her worth in spades.

Vicki Michelle reminds me of a 1970’s version of Katherine Isabelle and is quite good here as she is later in her career. She never seems like the tag along sister that she might have turned into in other productions.

The film is by no means a masterpiece, but a fun Sunday afternoon venture into horror or perhaps a late night aphrodisiac for the right woman or man. Not to mention that Rob Zombie wrote a pretty awesome tune inspired by this film for his Hellbilly Deluxe 2. Either way, if you are a fan of horror or exploitation, you might want to have this one on hand.