Witchcraft '70
a.k.a. Angeli bianchi... angeli neri / The Satanists
1970 · Directed by Luigi Scattini · Italy
I have recently been watching vintage British occult thrillers, Night of the Eagle (1962) and Witchcraft (1964), so thought it time to explore this oddity. Witchcraft ‘70, aka The Satanists, is a mondo documentary by Italian director Luigi Scattini. The sensationalist subject throws a wide net over British witch covens, voodoo rituals, hippie communes and cryonics, to name a few.
The film begins with police attending a scene in London. It is narrated by British voice artist Edmund Purdom, billed for the international market under the Italian writer’s name, Alberto Bevilacqua. Purdom begins: “a crime upon the dead at Highgate cemetery… maniacal necrophilia… the children of Satan express an undying faith in their old religion, and they are not maniacs, they are men and women who live amongst us and we like.”
The scattershot coverage of so many areas rarely offers more than a glimpse into religious exploitation, folk rituals and beliefs. The most interesting for me was a Satanic wedding facilitated by the head of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey. Purdom quips: “the mise-en-scene follows a pattern we know, an altar, a naked woman attended by a clutch of bosomy acolytes.”
The world-spanning soundtrack is provided by Piero Umiliani, a composer who can turn his hand to any style. He provides Brazilian samba, histrionic jazz warnings and sunshine psych to fit footage spanning the English suburbs to California streets.
Amongst the scenes of animal sacrifice, life-after-death surgery and faux mediums promising to channel the dead, there is little to offer any insight. Scattini provides a suitable exploitation document, but it is really only for the curious and probably not worth ninety minutes of anyone’s time.
Gallery
Trailer
From the score
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Piero Umiliani – Magical Moonlight