‘She had the body of a goddess and the soul of a witch.’
The Naked Witch is a 1961 American horror film written and directed by Larry Buchanan. It was financed by Claude Alexander, a Texan drive-in owner who wanted a racy movie with lots of nudity, even though the actual resulting nakedness in the film is negligible.
The film was mostly shot in 1960 in Germanic Luckenbach, Texas, but was not released until 1964. The copyright date is 1961. Its sexploitative title ensured that The Naked Witch was successful and helped launch Buchanan’s career. It is not to be confused with a 1964 Andy Milligan opus of the same title.
Incredibly, in the 1970s, this primitive film was re-released to drive-ins on a double-bill with The Witchmaker (1969), the latter re-titled The Legend of Witch Hollow.
On October 1, 20012, it was released in the US on DVD on a double-bill with Crypt of Dark Secrets (1976) by Something Weird Video.
Plot teaser:
The film begins with a prolonged general historical narrative (albeit overly exaggerated, pompous and sensationalised), given by Gary Owens (Laugh-In) that focuses on Hieronymous Bosch paintings.
A young male student, (played by Robert Short), researching early German settlements in Central Texas (Luckenbach), uncovers the grave of a formerly executed witch (played by Libby Hall). The vengeful witch rises from her grave and embarks on a campaign of seduction, revenge and murder against the descendants of those responsible for her death…
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DVD Extras:
- Audio Interview with “Naked Witch” Producer and Roadshow Impresario Claude Alexander
- Hex and Hoodoo Trailers for “Bourbon Street Shadows,” “The Devil’s Garden,” “Hot Pants,” “Holiday,” “Indecent Desires,” “Macumba Love,” “Swamp Girl,” “The Virgin Witch,” “Voodoo Village,” “Voodoo Woman,” “Witchcraft,” The Witch’s Curse” and more
- TV Spots for “The Naked Witch” and “Crypt of Dark Secrets”
- Musical Voodoo Short “Witch Doctor”
- Stripper Genii Young Voodoo Short “Afro-Cuban Genii”
- Almita goes Wild in “Voodoo Virgin”
- Sandra and Her Flames Star in “Temple Dance”
- A Witch Turns Sexy in Nudie Short “Cigam S’rehtom”
- LSD + Witchcraft = The 8mm Psychedelic Short “Acid Skull”
- A Voodoo Curse, Lesbians, and Dirty Old Men All Combine Incoherently in the 31 Minute Nudie Featurette, “The Hot Pearl Snatch”
- Gallery of Rare “Naked Witch” Behind-the-Scenes Photos and Exploitation Art
- Ghastly Gallery of Ghoulish Comic Cover Art with Horror Radio Rarities
Reviews:
“As is usually the case with such matters, the title is outrageously misleading; the witch is naked in only two scenes. This is just as well, though, because for those scenes when she is running around with no clothes on, somebody (Buchanan? His distributor?) censored the film by placing blackish, opaque streaks across it in such a way as to block out the line through which the witch’s torso would move.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
” … it was shown predominately in black and white … for something lensed for $8,000 it’s completely satisfactory and about what you’d expect. Some of Ms. Hall’s fleeting nudity was optically smudged by a film distributor I presume, but most of it has fittingly survived and is quite sensational for 1961.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
