YMMV / Witchfinder General

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Is Richard a sympathetic soldier fighting for revenge or a White Knight who cares for more about his selfish quest for revenge than in helping his beloved? When Hopkins and Stearns torture Sara at the tower in the end, all they ask from him is that he confess for her sake, yet he refuses. Then when The Cavalry arrives, he gets angry at his fellow soldiers for killing Hopkins before he could finish hacking him to pieces rather than about the mental health and suffering of Sara. They ask him to confess first, it’s hardly a fair offer when they’ll both still die.
  • It's possible to see Matthew Hopkins in a sympathetic light for one specific sequence - Sara offering herself to him. It's entirely possible he's never known the touch of a woman before (we never see him seducing or coercing other women in the film) and there is a chance there was some genuine affection for Sara. You could even interpret his crusade against her as being motivated by hurt that she loves Richard rather than him. Granted he's still a misogynist and sadist, but it does make one wonder.
• Angst? What Angst?: Although Sara displays angst about her uncle's death, having to prostitute herself to Hopkins and the torture of the other innocent people - she doesn't seem at all affected by Stearne's rape of her. It's practically forgotten about after it happens.
• Awesome Music: The love theme for this movie, composed by Paul Ferris, is one of the most beautiful themes in horror.
• Catharsis Factor: Richard beating Hopkins to death is oh so satisfying. Horrifying yes but oh so satisfying.
• Complete Monster:
  • Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General himself, travels from town to town torturing false confessions out of victims to see them executed. Forcing a priest into doing so by stabbing him with needles, Hopkins offers to spare him only when the man's niece offers her body to the licentious Hopkins. When the woman is raped in his absence, Hopkins kills the priest and abandons his subordinate John Stearne for having his way with her before Hopkins could. Later capturing the woman along with her fiancé, Hopkins viciously tortures both to insanity, hoping to force yet more confessions in the name of lining his pockets.
  • John Stearne, Hopkins's right-hand man, makes no pretense at his reasons for assisting the Witchfinder General; he is simply a sadist who enjoys hurting others. Stearne helps find "witches" and brutally tortures them for fun and profit, having them executed after. Torturing the priest Lowe, Stearne is annoyed when Hopkins orders a pause thanks to Lowe's niece Sarah prostituting herself to Hopkins, only to rape the woman himself and happily resume the torture after. Later torturing other suspected witches, Stearne attempts to frame the hero Marshall and his lover Sarah as witches to torture and kill them as well.
• Once Original, Now Overdone: The film was legendary for its explicit violence when it first came out - the Hays Code having been disbanded not long before and such graphic displays not normally seen on screen. These days it would look like standard fare for an R-rated horror.
• One-Scene Wonder: Patrick Wymark's cameo as Oliver Cromwell. He was so memorable, Tigon cast him in a more prominent role in The Blood on Satan's Claw.
• Presumed Flop: The film is an example of a film that was retrospectively exaggerated as a flop by its own fans to create a reputation as a Cult Classic. While it got horrible reviews from newspaper critics, who dismissed it as Torture Porn, it got quite respectable box office in its first release.
• Retroactive Recognition: A maid is played by Sally Geeson, who would later be best known for playing Sally Abbott in Bless This House.
• Special Effect Failure: A few scenes are supposed to be night but have clearly been filmed during the day.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: As noted below, Sara is an interesting character, but she mostly disappears after the second act and we don't get too much of an insight into how she's been affected by Hopkins's crusade. Sara also never gets her revenge on Stearne for raping her.
• Values Resonance: As noted here, Sara is quite a refreshing character for a 60s horror film. She's neither a Damsel in Distress nor The Vamp, despite ending up in situations that overlap with those tropes. She's a sex positive character - happily having premarital sex with Richard (which the narrative does not shame or judge her for) and being portrayed as a virtuous character even when offering herself to Hopkins. Bonus points for Richard not judging her for that one.
• The Woobie: All of Hopkins's victims could qualify, but notable figures.
  • Sara must witness her uncle being tortured, offer herself sexually to save him, get raped by Stearne and witness the uncle die anyway because Hopkins considers her Defiled Forever. Then she's tortured personally in the third act.
  • Father Lowe is clearly one of the good guys and a priest who wants to be a Good Shepherd - it's obvious he adores Sara and wants her to be Happily Married to Richard. Yet he's the first to be singled out by Hopkins. The Hope Spot he gets makes him even more of a Woobie.
  • Among the victims in Branderston is a woman who claims to be pregnant. Stearne mocks her for this, claiming she has to be lying because "who'd want to make you pregnant, witch?" and she's either drowned or hung to death.
  • Elizabeth, the victim of a public burning in the third act.

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