Necromancy (1972)

Necromancy begins with a woman who wakes up in hospital. She is looking for her baby. The woman is called Lori (Pamela Franklin), and she is at home now. It turns out that her baby was stillborn. She is married to Frank (Michael Ontkean). He has a new job in a place called Lilith, working in advertising. They move there. His new boss is called Mr. Cato (Orson Welles). He is a bit of an oddball.

Lori isn’t that happy to be moving to Lilith. They get into a car accident and the other car bursts into flames. The cops come and Lori takes a doll from the scene. Their car breaks down and Frank has to walk into town to get gas. Lori sees a funeral but when she looks again, it has disappeared. Frank gets the gas and they go to Lilith. They go to Mr. Cato’s house for dinner. He is into the occult. Lori is spooked by him. He gives her a book to read. It is about witchcraft.

Necromancy is a 1972 American supernatural horror film directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Orson Welles, Pamela Franklin, Michael Ontkean, and Lee Purcell. The plot follows an enigmatic cult leader in a small California town who attempts to harness the powers of a local woman to resurrect his dead son. The film was re-released in 1983 under the title The Witching in an alternate cut.

About the Story

After Los Angeles housewife Lori Brandon suffers a stillbirth, her husband Frank obtains a job working in the advertising division of a toy company in the northern California community of Lilith. En route, they witness a violent car accident in which an oncoming vehicle swerves off an embankment, killing the female driver. When their car later runs out of gasoline, Frank walks toward town, and Lori waits at the car. She wanders into a field and finds a gravestone beneath a tree; there, she has a bizarre vision of a young boy’s funeral.

Upon arriving in Lilith, Lori and Frank have dinner with his new boss, the eccentric Mr. Cato, who vaguely explains that Frank’s job at the company will involve magic, and gives Lori a grimoire as a gift. Priscilla, another of Cato’s employees, refers to Cato’s dead son, whom he believes is merely “resting”. Lori also discovers the house Frank and she have moved into had previously been rented by the woman who died in the car accident.

Lori becomes increasingly unnerved when she observes the power Cato exerts over the small town, owning all of its businesses and maintaining influence over its exclusively young residents, all of whom appear to have interests in the occult. Cato informs Lori of his pursuit of necromancy, the act of bringing the dead back to life, the one power he claims to have been unable to obtain; he also explains to her he believes she holds the key between life and death, and can help him achieve the revival of his dead son.

Lori and Frank are invited to a party, whereupon arriving she discovers it is a formal anointment into the town’s coven, but she refuses. The following day, she witnesses an apparition of Cato’s son, which lures her into the basement of her home, where she is attacked by a horde of rats.

Later, she is confronted by Priscilla and another cult leader, who inform her she is to take the place of Cato’s son during a necromancy ceremony. Terrified, Lori attempts to locate Frank when he does not return home from work. She phones Nancy, one of Cato’s associates. Nancy is in the midst of having sex with Frank. Nancy lies to Lori, telling her Frank went back to Los Angeles.

Directed by: Bert I. Gordon
Starring: Orson Welles, Pamela Franklin, Lee Purcell, Michael Ontkean, Harvey Jason, Lisa James, Susan Bernard, Brinke Stevens, Anna Berglund, Joyce Aronson, Derrick Bunch
Screenplay by: Bert I. Gordon, Gail March
Production Design by:
Cinematography by: Winton C. Hoch
Film Editing by: John B. Woelz
Costume Design by:
Set Decoration by:
Art Direction by:
Music by: Fred Karger, Robert J. Walsh
MPAA Rating:
Distributed by: Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Release Date: September 20, 1972 (Detroit, Michigan), October 18, 1972 (Philadelphia)