Michael Reeves

Michael Reeves (17 October 1943 – 11 February 1969) was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best remembered for the 1968 film Witchfinder General (known in the US as Conqueror Worm). A few months after the film's release, Reeves died in London at the age of 25 from an accidental alcohol and barbiturate overdose. Witchfinder General and death Witchfinder General It is for his third and final movie, Witchfinder General, that Reeves is best known. He was only 24 years old when he co-wrote and directed it. In 2005, Total Film magazine named Witchfinder General the 15th-greatest horror film of all time. Made on a modest budget in East Anglia and adapted from the novel by Ronald Bassett, Witchfinder General tells the story of Matthew Hopkins, the lawyer-turned-witchhunter who blackmails and murders his way across the countryside. Reeves imbues the film with a powerful sense of the impossibility of behaving morally in a society whose conventions have broken down, and though it is by no means free of the conventions of low-budget horror, it stands as a notably powerful and evocative film. Reeves wanted Donald Pleasence to play the title role, but American International Pictures, the film's co-financiers, insisted on using their resident horror star Vincent Price instead. This caused friction between the actor and the young director. A famous story is told of how Reeves won Price's respect: Reeves was constantly telling Price to tone down his over-acting, and to play the role more seriously. Price eventually cracked, snapping, "Young man, I have made eighty-four films. What have you done?" Reeves replied: "I've made three good ones."