Necromancy
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bert I. Gordon
Orson Welles
Pamela Franklin
Michael Ontkean
Lee Purcell
Harvey Jason
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Los Angeles, after their baby is born dead, Lori Brandon's husband Frank decides to take a job in the small town of Lilith, in order to get Lori away from painful memories, and despite the approval of her doctor, Lori has misgivings about the move. When she questions Frank, he is oddly reticent about discussing his new position in a toy manufacturing firm, but says that the owner of the company, Mr. Cato, was interested in learning about Lori. On the four-hour drive to Lilith, the Brandons see an oncoming car swerve off the cliff and burst into flames. Greatly troubled, Lori walks down to the burning car and finds nearby a strange rag doll with a woman's picture attached to its head. After the police arrive, Lori and Frank resume their journey, but she takes the doll with her. Just outside Lilith, when their car stalls, Frank walks ahead, leaving Lori behind. While she waits, Lori hears the mesmerizing sound of a man intoning a prayer and climbs a hill to the site of an open grave, where a group of robe-clad people have gathered. Looking into the open casket, Lori sees the already decaying corpse of a young boy. Shocked by the sight, she finds herself suddenly alone on the hill near a gravestone. After Frank returns, Lori, who has returned to the car, tearfully relates her experience, but he suggests that she imagined it. They then drive to a bridge leading into Lilith, where an armed guard at a roadblock checks them before letting them pass and Lori wonders aloud if the guard keeps people in or out of town. At a welcoming dinner provided by Cato, the older man talks about his company, telling Lori that his workers "create magic," rather than toys. Boasting of a huge personal library, Cato lends Lori a book he calls a " Grande grimoire " about the black arts, but Lori says she has no interest in the book or its subject. That night in their new house, Frank scolds Lori for being rude to Cato, but Lori questions why Frank was offered an unusually large salary to work for him. The next day, Lori discovers that Cato, who rules the museum-like town, is the only resident over thirty. Lori recognizes one woman, Priscilla, from her experience at the gravesite. Although Priscilla denies being on the hill, she says that Cato's son was buried there and adds that Cato believes his son is only "resting." Priscilla recognizes the doll Lori found as belonging to Jennie, who was moving away from Lilith when she died in the car accident the Brandons witnessed. Lori feels a special kinship with another resident, Georgette, who says that she and her husband will be leaving soon, because she is pregnant and Cato does not want any children in town, an attitude he developed after his own child died. In the evening, when Lori relates what she has learned to Frank, he admits that some of the toys at the factory are "weird" and agrees that they should leave. However, the following day Frank convinces Lori to remain one week, so that he will be able to leave with the company's blessing and a month's pay. Against her inclination, Lori agrees to attend a party Cato holds in their honor, where Dr. Jay, one of the residents, says that "pleasure is the cardinal rule." After the party, Lori realizes that Frank really wants to stay, and has a frightening set of visions, during which she drops a glass and cuts her foot. On her way to the clinic the next day, Lori is intrigued to find a young boy on a park swing. Priscilla walks up and claims not to see the boy, and then mysteriously compares Lori to Jennie, who she says did not leave until it was too late. While bandaging Lori's wounded foot, Jay invites the Brandons to dinner with him and his wife Nancy. That night, when Frank and Lori arrive, the home is dark, but then a light switches on and they are admitted into the house, where a decadent party is in progress. They are invited to join the town's coven, of which all the residents are members. Next, when Lori awakens in bed, she sees the boy standing nearby, and, after experiencing several terrifying visions, sees the boy again at the park swing. Lori later confronts Cato, telling him she will not become a witch. She accuses him of believing he is a god, but denying it, Cato admits only that he covets a god's power, which is to bring back the dead, and adds that Lori will help bring back his son. Soon after, Lori learns that Georgette has had a miscarriage and recalls how she lost her own child. In Cato's book, Lori discovers a ritual for resurrecting the dead and proceeds to Priscilla's shop to talk with her. Alone there, she finds ritual tools and a room decorated for a satanic ceremony. Appearing out of the shadows, Jay informs her that she is standing in the magic circle where a new witch will soon take her sacred vows. Lori responds that she is leaving and has guessed that they want her to take part in a spell to bring back the dead, which will require a living person to replace the deceased in his grave. Confirming her suspicion, Priscilla appears and adds that afterward Cato will allow the people in town to have children. Upon spotting a rag doll bearing a picture of Georgette's face, Lori realizes the coven cast spells to cause the miscarriage of her friend, as well as the fatal accident of Jennie. After she returns home, Lori tries to call Frank at work, finally connecting with Nancy, who tells her that he was sent to Los Angeles on business, although, in truth, he is in bed beside her. Feeling betrayed that Frank would leave her behind in Lilith, Lori throws the doll in the fireplace and in the flames sees visions of herself. Lori receives a phone call from a repentant Priscilla, who warns that Frank has become a witch and says that she wants to leave with Lori. Lori walks to the river, where she is supposed to meet Priscilla, but finds her drowned body near a doll bearing a picture of her face. In quick succession, Lori finds herself willingly initiated into the coven and swearing allegiance to Lucifer. As part of a rite, she stabs a man wearing a ceremonial bull's head and afterward discovers that she has killed Frank. While secretly praying to God, Lori fastens her picture to a doll's head and joins the coven at the hilltop grave. She watches the decaying corpse turn into a healthy young boy and is then forced into the casket. With Lori screaming inside, the coffin is lowered into the grave. Frightened out of her sleep, Lori awakens in her Los Angeles home, just after the death of her baby, and realizes that recent experiences have all been part of a horrific nightmare. Frank consoles her, but her relief is shattered when the telephone rings and Frank is offered a job in Lilith.
Director
Bert I. Gordon
Cast
Orson Welles
Pamela Franklin
Michael Ontkean
Lee Purcell
Harvey Jason
Lisa James
Sue Bernard
Terry Quinn
Stephen Knight
Anna Berglund
Barbara Peckinpah
Annie Gaybis
Angela Marie
Stephen Mayer
Hugo Huber
Jeffrey Reagan
Cybal Del Vecchio
Laurie Senit
Leesi Heasler
Valerie Fredericks
Debbie Mckay
Joyce Aronson
Kevin Michaels
Kim Levy
Jeanne Metter
Derrick Bunch
Carl Solomon
Berinka Stevens
Darlene Orlando
Sal Orlando
Scott Haims
Crew
Joyce Aronson
Paul Beavers
Yakov Bentsvi
Barbara Benz
Randall Berkley
Jacob Bresler
Ross Brown
Raymond Buckland Ph.d.
Jay Burnhart
Sidney L. Caplan
William Cartwright
Terry Chappe
Gail Cohen
Mark E. Cohen
Dennis Dalzell
Robert De Vestel
Lynn Del Kail
Tom Dugan
Tommy Estridge
Julie Fischer
Eunice Forester
Douglas Freeman
Roger George
Bert Gold
Bert I. Gordon
Bert I. Gordon
Bill Green
Karl Guers
John Hanley
David Harshbarger
Peter J. Heer
Norman Hess
Winton Hoch
Paul Hughen
Ed Hunt
Lurance Johnson
Fred Karger
Gary Kibbe
David Lesser
Gail March
Gail March
Mike Marlett
Michael O'shea
Bud Otto
Alfred Overton
Robert Planck
Bernard Pollack
Cliff Ralke
Chuck Randall
Val Raset
Don Roberts
Ted Roberts
Don Schoenfeld
Eugene G. Shlugleit
Jeffrey Sneller
Jack Stern
Robert J. Stone
Don Stott
Frank Sylos
Pamela Tedeschi
William Tuttle
William "dutch" Vanderbyl
Dennis Virkler
David Waelder
Rob Walsh
John Woelz
Greg Wolf
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of the film were A Life for a Life and The Toy Factory. The title of the viewed print was The Witching, which was a re-edited, re-released version of the film produced by Premiere Productions, Ltd. and Associates Entertainment International and bearing a 1983 copyright statement in the end credits. The plot summary above is based on a viewing of the 1983 version, with supplemental information based on 1972 reviews and the Filmfacts summary.
The 1983 onscreen credits, which are the basis of the cast and crew listed above, provides cast and crew members for both 1972 and 1983 versions. Actors following cast member Terry Quinn May have appeared only in the 1983 version, which included scenes added to the 1972 version. The crew names listed above reflect the 1972 version, with the designated additions of crew members who appear to have worked only on the 1983 version; crew members listed in the section marked "Additional photography" appear to have worked only in the 1983 version. The offscreen crew credits listed above are people who worked on the 1972 version.
Although 1972 reviews reported that the story ended with the character "Lori Brandon" awakening from a nightmare predicting future events, the viewed print ended earlier, with her live burial. The film contained many brief flashbacks. An important point made in the film is that the term "necromancy" is defined as reviving the dead by exchanging a life for a life, but as noted in the San Francisco Chronicle review, the true definition of the term has to do with revealing future events through communication with the dead.
The film's production and release companies varied among pre-production, the 1972 release and the 1983 release. October 1970 through February 1971Hollywood Reporter production charts reported that the film was being produced by writer-producer-director Gordon and his Group III Productions. According to a November 1970 Hollywood Reporter news item, Gordon, who had recently formed Group III, had completed principal photography on The Toy Factory for under $1,000,000, with the financial backing of Valiant Productions and Premiere Investment Corp., Inc. According to a February 1972 Variety article, in February of the previous year, following completion of The Toy Factory, Caplan, president of Premiere, deemed the film unacceptable and assigned Zenith executive vice president Stone to revise and complete a new version. Stone made twenty minutes of changes to the film, which, according to the February 1972 Variety article, exceeded the budget by four hundred percent.
According to a July 1971 Daily Variety news item, Gordon and Valiant Productions brought suit against Premiere to re-gain creative control of the film. The same news item reported that a Superior Court judge gave Gordon twenty-one days to re-cut the picture to his original plan, and then return the film for release to Premiere, which was ordered to make no further changes. A September 1971 Hollywood Reporter article reported that in a second preliminary injunction Caplan was found in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with the prior injunction. In February 1972, a Variety article reported that the Superior Court ruled in favor of Premiere by giving it full control of worldwide distribution rights of the film, which was now titled Necromancy, through a deal with Cinerama Releasing Corp. for domestic release and Cavalcade Pictures for foreign distribution.
In August 1971, a Daily Variety article reported that Zenith had formed a music publishing and recording arm and had plans to record an album titled Emotion containing composer Fred Karger's film score, as well as a single of the film's theme song, "The Morning After," composed by Karger and lyricist Richard Quine. Although a March 1972 Daily Variety news item reported that the song would be sung in the film by Mike Clifford, it was not heard in the viewed print and no 1972 reviews mentioned the song.
According to Filmfacts and the Los Angeles Times review, portions of Necromancy were shot on location in Los Gatos, CA. Pamela Franklin and Harvey Jason, who portrayed "Lori Brandon" and "Dr. Jay," respectively, were married in 1971. A studio cast list names Ted Roberts as music editor, while October 1970 Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety news items name Don Roberts as a sound man. It is possible that the two names refer to the same person. Although the Box Office review, dated October 1972, listed a release date of August 1972 for Necromancy, it May not have been released until November 1972, which is the release date given by the Motion Picture Herald review. Several 1972 reviewers criticized the film for its choppy editing, and the Box Office review mentioned that the film was originally intended to be R-or X-rated. Although the 1972 Variety review did state that Franklin appeared partially in the nude, it also noted "trade rumors" that "too-spicy scenes" were ultimately omitted to earn the film a PG rating. In the 1983 version (The Witching), many other characters appeared in the nude and brief scenes of an orgiastic nature were included. According to an April 1972 Daily Variety news item, Necromancy opened the Tehran Film Festival on April 24, 1972.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1972
Released in United States 1972
