The first act of The Witch's Mirror sets one up to expect a rather cheesy and laughable old-school style horror movie; there are self-playing pianos, invocations of Satan, fires that go out on their own, and a big, creepy castle. But then it takes a turn into really weird territory, turning into a kind of 1930s horror movie meets Eyes without a Face meets Mario Bava. And all of this within a seventy-five minute runtime. The plot itself is simple; a witch foresees the murder of her goddaughter by her philandering husband, but Satan forbids her to intervene, so she decides to avenge her murder by terrorizing the doctor and his new wife. To say anymore would only spoil what is one delirious, and at times terrifying ride. The Witch's Mirror is impressive for the way it brings together all of the diverse elements contained within it, and boils them down into something that genuinely works. That is comes with a generous helping of cinematic style does not hurt either. But what floored me most about this one was precisely how the movie goes about making that 180 degree turn from kitsch to terror. It really owes a great debt to the classics of German expressionism and early Hollywood horror in the use of gothic shadows and skewed camera angles, the whole affair just gives one the most sublime cinematic high.
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