''Simon, King of the Witches'' is a 1971 American

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horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

directed by

Bruce Kessler Bruce Kessler (March 23, 1936 – April 4, 2024) was an American racing driver and film and television director. Racing career Bruce Kessler was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Beverly Hills, California. He was the son of a clothin ...

and starring

Andrew Prine Andrew Lewis Prine (February 14, 1936 – October 31, 2022) was an American film, stage, and television actor. Early life Prine was born in 1936, in Jennings, Florida. He was raised in a farming community. Career Early beginnings In the ...

Brenda Scott Brenda Scott (born March 15, 1943) is an American film and television actress. Her stage name comes from an F. Scott Fitzgerald character. Early life Born Brenda Jean Smith on March 15, 1943 in Cincinnati,

, George Paulsin,

Norman Burton Norman Burton (December 5, 1923 – November 29, 2003) was an American actor. He was occasionally credited as Normann Burton. Early life Born in New York City, Burton was a student of the Actors Studio. After early work on stage, he broke in ...

and others. The film centers on the title character as he attempts to become a god through magic rituals.

Plot

Simon Sinestrari (Andrew Prine), a cynical

ceremonial magic Ceremonial magic (also known as magick, ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of Magic (supernatural), magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories t ...

ian, is on a quest to become a god. Simon is living in a storm sewer, selling his charms and potions for money, when he is befriended by a young male prostitute named Turk (George Paulsin). Turk introduces Simon to his world of drugs, wild parties, and bizarre Satanic rituals featuring Ultra Violet and a goat. Death, freak-outs and mayhem ensue, along with romance for Simon with the district attorney's daughter Linda (Brenda Scott). Simon seduces Linda. Together, the two lovers search for the proper spell to make themselves into gods.

Cast

as Simon Sinestrari *George Paulsin as Turk *

as Linda *Gerald York as Hercules Van Sint *

as Rackum *William Martel as Commissioner Davies *Ray Galvin as Chief Boyle *Art Hern as Mayor * Ultra Violet as Sarah *Harry Rose as Landlord

Production

The misleading

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campaign, which set up ''Simon'' as a demonic sex orgy film cashing in on the

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934 – November 19, 2017) was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some cult members committed a Manson ...

trials, seriously hurt the film at the

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. The film is practically bloodless, with only brief

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(which, again against the norm, actually serves a purpose in the story) but no explicit sex and no parallels whatsoever with Manson. Like many other more eccentric 1970s low budget genre films, ''Simon'' has become a

cult film A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...

over the years, albeit an extremely marginal one. There was also a paperback

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

of ''Simon'' by Baldwin Hills, more than likely a pen name, which took the

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

camp of the film one step further into full-on absurd comedy. The film had its world premiere at the McVickers Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, on May 12, 1971.

Home media

''Simon, King of the Witches'' was released on

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by Dark Sky Films in 2008. It was reissued on Blu-Ray DVD in 2017 by

Code Red DVD Code Red DVD was an independent American home entertainment company specializing in retro exploitation and horror films, operated by Bill Norton Olsen. The company originally began releasing films on DVD in 2006, and later began releasing and re ...

Reception

Charles Tatum from ''eFilmCritic.com'' awarded the film one out of five stars, writing, “This film tries to be serious, almost like an exposé, but it fails miserably. It is often funny, without meaning to be. ''Simon, King of the Witches'' is all smoke and mirrors. I do not recommend it.”

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

gave the film 1/5 stars, criticizing the film's confusing plot. Ian Jane from

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

wrote, “''Simon King of the Witches'' is a wild mix of seventies psychedelics and occult quirk that makes for a truly quirky watch. Andrew Prine is great in the lead and the film might work better as a cultural artifact than an actual horror picture but regardless, it remains an interesting and well-made movie” Jason Coffman from ''Film Monthly.com'' gave the film a positive review, writing, “''Simon, King of the Witches'' is an entertaining film and an interesting time capsule of very early 1970s culture... It might not be a lost genre-defining masterpiece, but it is a gem that deserves to be seen.” Debi Moore from

Dread Central Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...

rated the film a score of 3.5 out of 5, commending Prine's performance, psychedelic tone, innovative effects.

Sources

* '' Gods In Polyester: A Survivors' Account Of 70's Cinema Obscura'' features a chapter by

on the making of ''Simon''.

References

External links

* * {{Rotten tomatoes, simon_king_of_the_witches, Simon, King of the Witches
Simon, King of the Witches
review by George R. Reis at DVD Drive-in
''Simon, King of the Witches''
at the

TCM Movie Database Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

1971 films 1970s exploitation films 1971 horror films 1971 independent films American exploitation films American independent films American supernatural horror films Films about witchcraft Films shot in Los Angeles Films about Satanism Films scored by Stu Phillips Films directed by Bruce Kessler 1970s English-language films 1970s American films American religious horror films English-language horror films English-language independent films