Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

baldwood Viewers beware, this movie is nothing but gruesome murders, satanic rituals, etc & has no redeeming entertainment value at all. The only good thing about this junk is that it ended...oh well. Vincent Price made many good horror flicks in the 50's & early 60's, but as the 60's wore on into the 70's many filmmakers began showing nudity, extremely graphic violence, and even scenes of satanic worship... Sickening! What a shame that this Edgar Allan Poe story was made into an x rated filth indulgence!! If you like Poe, Hawthorne or Vincent Price I recommend that you stick with pre-70's stuff as the 60's revolution culture bred lots of anything goes type stuff at the expense of quality story-telling. If you just want porn & gruesome blood spattering I bet you can find all you want at your local xxx shop.

Jonathon Dabell The title is probably the most interesting thing about this competent but totally undistinguished horror flick, in which Vincent Price returns to Witchfinder General (aka Conqueror Worm) territory. Other than frequent flashes of nudity, Cry Of The Banshee has a dated air to it and feels very much like one of the films Roger Corman's team was turning out in the early '60s. It is nearly always a pleasure to watch (and listen to) Price, mainly because he manages to bring great charisma to his characters even when they're rotten to the core. In this one his performance as Lord Edward Whitman is as polished as usual, but the character is so thoroughly dislikable - so totally free of sympathy or compassion - that not even an actor as charismatic as Price can make him appealing to the viewer.In Elizabethan England, a wicked magistrate named Lord Edward Whitman (Vincent Price) is obsessed with finding and tracking down those who practise witchcraft. However, Whitman has a nasty habit of abusing his own position of power – quite often, he falsely accuses pretty young peasant women of witchery and has them beaten, stripped and humiliated for the private entertainment of himself and his family. Unsuspectingly, Lord Whitman actually stumbles upon a REAL coven of witches, led by the powerful but mostly peaceful Oona (Elisabeth Bergner). After subjecting them to his usual brand of torment and degradation, he has all the witches killed apart from Oona herself. Later, Oona summons the titular banshee so that it can work its way through Whitman's family circle, killing off his odious relatives until only he remains. The banshee manifests itself in the guise of a handsome young man named Roderick (Patrick Mower), who manoeuvres his way into the Whitman household and makes them pay with their lives for the terror they have brought upon so many innocent people….The film opens with a surprisingly imaginative titles sequence which is the work of Monty Python alumnus Terry Gilliam. It is sad that little of that imagination is to be found in the remainder of the film. Gordon Hessler directs in routine fashion, moving the proceedings along in a workmanlike but rarely enthralling manner. The supporting performances are generally OK, given that the script is made up of standard characters and situations (having said that, the film's climactic "twist" is admittedly well handled, with a satisfying and rather creepy sting in the tail). Cry Of The Banshee is hardly the stuff of classic horror – there are better horror movies, there are better Vincent Price movies, and there are better movies about witch-hunting – but on the whole it is passable fare. Those who like old-school chillers in the Hammer Horror/Roger Corman style will probably find this an entertaining time-filler.

spacemonkey_fg Title: Cry of the Banshee (1970) Director: Gordon Hessler Cast: Vincent Price Review: I'm trying to work my way through Vincent Prices body of work and I've seen some pretty impressive stuff like for example the really excellent Roger Corman directed The Fall of the House of Usher. The hokey and fun The Raven and most recently I had the chance to see Cry of the Banshee. How was it? Well the story is about this England ruler called Edward Whitman. He is a vicious and cold leader making fun of the poor and using his power to accusing pretty girls of being witches, just to watch em being tortured to death for their supposed religious practices. Of course he eventually stumbles upon a real coven of witches and when he decides to kill one of them, well, then their leader, a witch called Oona decides to take matters into her own hands and calls upon the spirit of the Banshee to execute revenge upon the house of Whitman.After watching this film the first thing that came to mind was how similar it was in story to Tim Burtons Sleepy Hollow. In Burtons film the spirit of the headless horseman is used by an evil witch who has sold hel soul to Satan, to execute revenge and little by little kill off all the members of a rich elite family. On Cry of the Banshee the storyline is exactly the same. Only thing is here they use what they call a Banshee. A creature who howls in the night and lives in the "haunted woods" just like in Sleepy Hollow. The similarities don't stop their, so Ill just leave it up to you to find them. But these similarities make perfect sense to me since Tim Burton is such a Vincent Price fan. It seems to me that this might have been one of Burtons childhood favorites and was an obvious inspiration for Sleepy Hollow.Banshee also deals with religious themes of Christianity vs. witchcraft. Though I must admit that you wont know who to root for in this movie since they were both bad guys in my book. First there's Whitmans religion which is obviously Christian, yet he is a cold hearted and soulless bastard who takes pleasure in torturing the poor and oppressed. And then there's the witches, and in this movie they are devil worshipers hell bent on revenge. They indulge in calling Satan their "lord and master" and use voodoo dolls to cause pain and death to their enemies. So you see, there's no good guys to root for in this movie, everyones a bastard and looking to step on the other. Which, if you ask me is the way real life is anyways.The movie is filled to the top with cheesy acting and unrealistic performances. Its all very campy, very theatrical and over the top. But I guess most of Prices movies where done in this fashion since I've yet to see one where this wasn't the case, so I just go with it and enjoy the sheer cheesiness of it all. But of course Price outshines everyone here because he hams it up, yet he takes it so seriously! You can see the guy just relished in taking a role and elevating its cheesiness to higher levels. It was also interesting to see him do a completely evil character with no likable character traits whatsoever. I've seen Price do evil before, and even when he is evil he is often times likable...but this is not the case.The Banshee itself, the titular creature, was left out from most of the film. He is reduced to appearing in shadows and in silhouette until the grand finale when he decides to show his ugly face. The make up is suttle yet effective.On the bonus side, this flick has so much gratuitous breast shots that it actually become funny for me to count how many boobs they were going to show! Just when you thought you had your obligatory boob shot...up pops another one. It seemed like every time some dude wanted to ask a girl if she was a witch, it was obligatory to open up her blouse with a knife and let the boobs do most of the talking. Heh, it kept me amused but also kind of felt overdone and unnecessary.All in all a nice film, but I'm sure Vincent Price had better films under his belt. By the way, I keep hearing Vincent Prices film The Conqueror Worm (aka Witchunter General) as a far superior "hunt down the witches and burn em" flick. I guess Ill do my best to hunt that one down.Rating: 3 out of 5

bensonmum2 By no stretch of the imagination is this even close to Price's best film. In most of his films, Price can play the most evil, vile, hideous person alive, yet you can still find qualities to like because of his charismatic, sympathetic nature. This is not the case in Cry of the Banshee. Price's Lord Edward Whitman is a character without any likable qualities.I don't think the story (very similar to The Conqueror Worm) was very original for its time. There are far better "burn the witch" movies that preceded Cry of the Banshee. Price again plays a witch finder. But, he messes with the wrong witch and she places a curse on his family. One by one, family members die at the hands of the witch's Banshee.Two things I liked were the ending and the Banshee make-up. The end of the film had some mild surprises that I enjoyed. And the Banshee makeup was good, IMO, because it wasn't over-done. The minimalistic approach to the make-up worked for me.