Cry of the Banshee (1970)

Another Gordon Hessler-Christopher Wicking collaboration for AIP released the same year as Scream and Scream Again (1970), Cry of the Banshee sadly doesn't come up to standard of its predecessor.  Compared to the earlier film, it is simply too conventional, both in theme and structure, presenting its sub-Witchfinder General tale of witch hunting as a straightforward narrative, with none of the cross-cutting between narrative threads and stylistic flair of Scream and Scream Again.  The resemblance to Witchfinder General, (even down to the casting of that film's star, Vincent Price, in a similar role), is key here - Cry of the Banshee is entirely derivative, conceived by AIP in order to try and replicate the success of that film.  (Their collaborator on Witchfinder General, Tigon, of course made its own follow up, The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) which, while not a commercial success, offered a fresh and original approach to its subject matter).  Consequently, Cry of the Banshee has no impetus of its own - it exists purely to rehash the most popular tropes of the earlier film - witch burnings, the persecution and torture of young women and lots of bloody violence - its only innovation is to add in an actual supernatural element which hadn't been present in Witchfinder General.  Which proves fatal to the narrative, not only removing any moral compass it might have had, but also depriving the audience of any truly sympathetic characters to identify with.  Whereas in Witchfinder General it is clear that there are no witches, only innocent victims of authority - the crimes attributed to the women persecuted by Matthew Hopkins merely being projected upon them by his own twisted psyche - in Cry of the Banshee those being persecuted by Price's character really are witches, who use their powers to wreak supernatural vengeance upon his whole family by unleashing the forces of evil.

Ultimately, this leaves the viewer feeling that, while Price and his associates are brutal bastards who probably deserve everything they get, Oona (Elizabeth Bergener) and her band of anachronistic hippies-cum-witches are equally culpable, sending Patrick Mower in the form of a werewolf, (at least, that's what the make-up looks like), to indiscriminately tear out throats.  To be absolutely fair to director Gordon Hessler, most of the film's problems pre-dated his involvement.  Although he brought in Christopher Wicking to rewrite Tim Kelly's original script, AIP executives limited the amount of changes that could be made.  On top of this, AIP decided to re-edit the film before release, re-ordering the sequence of several scenes, (the scene that opens this version of the film - Price's attack on the witch camp - originally came part way through the film, for instance).  Moreover, Wilfrid Joseph's score was replaced by a much more conventional score by Les Baxter and Terry Gilliam's disturbing title animations replaced with stills under the titles.  While the editing changes somewhat disrupt the film's narrative rhythm, the loss of the original score robs the movie of much of its period atmosphere.  The interference seems ironic in light of the fact that AIP's executives had previously fought hard to resist attempt to interfere in Scream and Scream Again by co-producer Amicus' Milton Subotsky.  Not surprisingly, Hessler considered Cry of the Banshee the least favourite of the four films he directed for AIP.  But, despite all of its problems, Cry of the Banshee does provide a lot of good unclean fun: the production values are just OK, but the various set-pieces well staged, while Price, backed up a number of familiar British TV faces, including Patrick Mower and Michael Elphick, gives a far more animated performance than he did in Scream and Scream Again.

The original, unadulterated, version of the film has been released on home video and sometimes turns up on TV, (I recall seeing it screened on ITV back in the late eighties or early nineties), and is undoubtedly better than the original release version.  Interestingly, though, recent screenings of the film by Talking Pictures TV have used that earlier cut - perhaps because it also removes all the bare breasts.  Oh yes, before I forget, a lot of people have complained about the fact that no actual banshees feature in the film, despite the title.  Nonetheless, references are made to the wailing disembodied voice of the legendary banshee by various characters, with the howling of what is at first thought to be a wild dog - it's actually a hairy and lupine Patrick Mower - likened to the 'cry of the banshee'.  So, pedants, the script does actually justify the title.