As the film opens with glorious wide screen b/w landscape imagery and a fabulous rapidly edited sequence of young ladies bathing, hopes are high for this late sixties Czech tale of 17th century Inquisitors and their passion for torturing women. A dark hooded figure begins to tell of the awful rituals that witches enjoy at the behest of Satan and we should be away, but instead we are introduced to a wordy costume drama that will dominate proceedings for most of the film's length. True there are gruesome and torturous close-ups, more talk of what witches might do but little in the way of vast landscapes or spooky corners. This may or may not be an allegorical tale referencing the totalitarian state of the time but the spectacle with much repletion becomes rather tiresome and so very predictable. Such a shame with such promise and possibilities but this is not to be another Witchfinder General and certainly no rival to Ken Russell's The Devils in spite of its pretensions.