Originally titled O Haxan and filmed in Denmark 1922 Narration by beatnick guru William S.Burroughs (added roughly in the 1950's-60's)
This version differs from the one seen in Kevin Brownlow's excellent documentary Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood (1996), as it has color tinting and my copy does not.
The film begins with a documentary style description of witch persecution throughout the ages, using narration and middle age woodcuts to explain witchcraft.
The film then shifts to standard film storytelling, relating various aspects of Satanic rituals, very graphic for its time. The film was banned several times for its depictions.
Without giving to much of the film away (I hate spoilers ) I'll say this ... the fantasy sequences are spectacular and have a very eerie feel to them. The scenes with Satan are very humorous and I rate the film a solid 9. It would be a perfect 10 if not for the deadpan narration by Burroughs and the jazzy soundtrack, but thats what the mute button is for. I will also suggest that you pop in a CD of Wagner's best classical pieces to play along with the film.

An English occult thriller, this movie comes from the famous Hammer Studios where it was originally titled "The Devil's Own." It's part of a sub-genre of films made back then that featured various aging movie actresses, once big names -- then largely forgotten. In these films, the unfortunate leading ladies were put in horrific situations usually leading to their degradation. The producer's marketing theory being that the public enjoyed seeing their idols knocked down off their pedestals. This type of movie kept many former Hollywood icons working for years when no one else would employ them.
As "The Witches" opens, a colorful prologue shows star Joan Fontaine in a remote African outpost, where she's terrorized by masked natives, The suspense quickly builds as Fontaine first tries to ignore the noise and the chanting, then finally succumbs to blood-chilling terror when she sees what's emerging out of the surrounding jungle.
The movie then shifts to the UK, where now recovering Fontaine has taken a teaching position at a private school. This oddly small school is led by a self-proclaimed man of God and his scholarly spinster sister. Joan Fontaine starts to suspect the quaint townspeople of this English village as having a secret society. When one of the schoolboys becomes ill, he blames an elderly townswoman for putting a curse on him because he wanted to date her granddaughter Jenny. This leads Fontaine to one "Granny Rigg," the creepiest old crone this side of Martha Mattox. Unkempt and slovenly, Granny Rigg enjoys drinking her homemade wine, and regards Fontaine through slightly crossed eyes as they get acquainted.
And is it a coincidence that unlucky Fontaine is trampled by a runaway herd of panicked sheep?
And what really happened to her poor student Jenny's bandaged hand? It's rumored that her Granny Rigg forced it through the washing machine rollers because she spoke to a boy.
"The Witches" contains beautiful cinematography in the best Hammer Studios tradition, and the locales are alternatingly picturesque and forbidding. Of course sometimes the dialogue seems dated and even humorous, especially towards the climax where the truth of this suspected coven's practices become known. The acting is restrained, in usual British tradition, with Fontaine actually looking splendid and years younger than her age of 49. She does insist on sucking in her cheeks whenever not speaking her lines, though.
The climax is an extravaganza of decadence as the devil worshippers reveal their secret rituals in a free-for-all ceremony of lust and depravity 1960s style. And Granny Rigg presides at the function, providing the musical accompaniment with the strangest of instruments.

Out of 4 stars, 4 being best, I give What Lies Beneath 4 stars.
To me a really GOOD scary movie isn't just about special effects, blood and gore ... etc. It also has to do with the actors, suspense, and of course the storyline.
Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer were the perfect actors for this movie. It's 2 hours and 10 minutes of spine tingling, jump in you chair suspense and terror.
The ending is a surprise, I won't reveal anymore. You GOTTA rent this!

It looks like a standard slasher movie, with a twist. In the little town of Cherry Falls, someone is killing teenagers. Not the ones having sex, or doing drugs, or the other regular victims of slasher movies, but virgins. The town is in a panic, and the teenagers in it decide that the best way to save themselves is to all lose their virginity in one great orgy. As the story moves, the daughter of the local sheriff becomes the first person to survive the killer's advances. And she inadvertently picks up the thread of secret, which leads to a truly twisted conclusion. This is a truly inventive film of its type. From the basic concept, the story spins a web brutal murders and of dark, small town secrets, lies, and corruption.

A teenage girl goes to sleep in her bed, in the country mansion where she lives. Surrounded by dolls and toys, she drifts away into a world of dreams, and of nightmares. Her journey takes her into a strange fairy tale village, where her sister has been killed by wolves. Her closest friend is her grandmother, who tells her gruesome fairy tales of shape changing beasts and warns her wolves can take many shapes and that the most dangerous are those that are hairy on the inside, and smooth on the outside. Along with these tails, she gifts her granddaughter with a fine red hooded cloak. Soon, the town is beset again by wolves, which turn out to be much more than they seem. And the girl, wrapped in her hooded cloak enters the woods with a basket of food for her grandmother. Blatantly sexual, Wolves takes the tale of Little Red Riding Hood to horrific new places and into its roots of loss of innocence.