Stay Clear of The Witches Mountain (1972)

Last night I continued to venture through Undead: The Vampire Collection. My choice for the evening was the 1972 Spanish entry, The Witches Mountain (El Monte de las brujas). What I found was something of a snoozer.

This plot was at least plausible, a young couple traveling through the Pyrenees stays overnight at an ancient Spanish castle, only to discover that it is the headquarters for a coven of witches. Do not get excited, the coven of witches only dance around and really do not do anything throughout the entire movie. Other than that, there was not much meat to the story. In fact, there was not even much dialogue to help keep you interested. I understand that this DVD has been dubbed many times and the translations on audio detract from the original, but it did not even appear that there was conversations set for those periods.  There were a few bright spots, Patty Shepard has a memorable performance as Delia, portraying an eerie and mysterious beauty. In fact, that may be the highlight of the whole film. The soundtrack is interesting musically and at times generated a little bit of tension. Other than that and some creepy photography show in different scenes, the movie is extremely incoherent. That being said, I would love to see the original release in its day, I really cannot believe that the editors butchered this film like this, it definitely took something away from what could have been.

In all, I have to wonder what Mill Creek was thinking when adding this to a set marketed to vampire viewers (Undead: The Vampire Collection), for it has nothing to do with vampirism or even the undead (unless it is that man chained in the cave). If it were I, I would not watch it again nor recommend it in this format. The original Spanish version, maybe, but not this one, Stay Away!!!

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