Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Set in 17th century England during the violent early days of Cromwell's rule THECONQUEROR WORM is Michael Reeves' dark violent tale of the infamous 17th century witchhunter Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price). A failed lawyer Hopkins practiced his wicked trade throughout the British countryside for nearly a decade capitalizing on the instability and tumultuous upheavals created by the English Civil War. After years of unchallenged torture and sadistic murder the witchfinder finally meets his match when until he runs afoul of an army officer who vows revenge.System Requirements:Running Time: 86 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 027616087652 Manufacturer No: M108765

Amazon.com:
By consensus, Vincent Price's finest performance among his gallery of horror-movie rogues comes in Witchfinder General, the intense 1968 film that erased any hint of camp from the actor's persona. Price plays Matthew Hopkins, a sadistic 17th-century "witchfinder" who uses barbaric methods to identify (and invariably execute) supposed witches. Along with Price's disciplined work, Witchfinder is also the best film by the talented and ill-fated director Michael Reeves, who was only 24 when he shot the movie. Blessed with a great feeling for English landscapes and an eye for blackly telling details (peasants roasting potatoes in the ashes of a burned witch), Reeves was clearly a promising filmmaker, who died in 1969 from a drug overdose. The most vivid thing about Witchfinder General is the way it explicitly links paranoia and witch-hunting to misogyny, and how female sexual energy is seen by the ruling order as a threat. The final sequence is perhaps the most harrowing fade-out of any Sixties horror picture, and offers no comforting resolution.

Included on the Witchfinder package is a disc of three featurettes: a half-hour bio, the 12–minute Art of Fear that looks at his horror work (with the expected focus on the other films in this box set), and a 15–minute piece on other actors working with Price (although these actors are not interviewed, just the gallery of experts who speak in the other docs). The Witchfinder disc includes a valuable backgrounder on the movie, including the story behind the original U.S. release of the film, titled The Conqueror Worm (to cash in on Price's connection to Edgar Allan Poe works, which this is not), plus a commentary with producer Philip Waddilove and Michael Reeves' favored leading man, Ian Ogilvy. --Robert Horton

Rating : - Not worth 4+ stars
Seriously, this movie is not worth the more than 3 stars many people give it. Yes, give credit to Price for playing a vile character sans the usual "camp" factor, but that praise on its own makes neither his acting nor the whole of this film great. I found myself fast forwarding through several sections that would have offered nothing more if I let them play at normal speed. This type of "self-editing" we do on occasion with movies at home just goes to show some professional editing should have been done in the first place. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it should have been edited to the degree of a whole new film, that would better serve Price's resume and our viewing pleasure.

Some complain they don't know how this is categorized as "horror" -- I don't know where or if it is, but I don't think it was intended to be. Although the Witchmaker General does inspire TERROR amongst those he chooses to target for torture and the stake. That being said, I did miss the usual lavish, rich, and gothic sets from Price's Poe-inspired movies.

This movie is a one-timer for viewing.