After watching the documentary GLOW:
The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, I got a
hankering to watch a Matt Cimber movie.
He of course directed a string of exploitations pictures long before his
involvement with the ultimate women’s wrestling show. I’m glad to say, The Witch Who Came from the
Sea is one of his best.
Millie (The Shooting) Perkins stars as a mentally frail
waitress who lives with her sister and two nephews in a gloomy seaside town. When she learns her two favorite footballs
players have been murdered during a kinky sex act, she flies off the handle. It’s also troubling to her because she’s
unable to remember if she’s the one responsible.
The Witch Who Came from the Sea has a freewheeling,
experimental feel to it. The murder
sequences have a dreamlike quality and the freak-out scenes are quite
memorable. It has a grimy, homemade look
so the “normal” everyday scenes almost feel like a home movie. Because of that, when things get weird (like
the scene where Perkins imagines a bunch of bodybuilders being strung up and
killed), it feels especially freaky.
Due to its very nature, the film is uneven and sometimes
frustrating. Whenever it threatens to
derail itself, Perkins swoops in to save the day. You never quite know what she’ll do next and
her homicidal bursts of lunacy are really something to see. One moment, she’s sweet and innocent. The next, she’s unhinged and deranged. The supporting cast, which includes such
favorites as George “Buck” Flower as a cop and Roberta Collins are equally fine
and lend terrific support.
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