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Simon, King of the Witches | 
| Director: Bruce Kessler
Actors: Allyson Ames, Norman Burton, Jay Della, Angus Duncan, William Martel
Studio: Dark Sky Films
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $9.03
You Save: $5.95 (40%)
New (37) Used (10) from $6.99
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 66939
Format: Color, Dvd, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: DVD8154
UPC: 030306815497
EAN: 0030306815497
ASIN: B0015I2S0G
Theatrical Release Date: 1971
Release Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"All I touch I corrupt."Simon Sinestrari is a warlock. Though he lives in a storm drain and sometimes talks to trees he's the real deal no smoke and mirrors. Deadly serious about his craft he despises falsehoods and misconceptions toward his witchy profession. And as for those who don t believe...After being picked up for vagrancy Simon spends a night in jail with Turk (George Paulsin) a young hustler with connections to powerful people in powerful places. One such character is Hercules (Gerald York) a skeptical philanthropist who hires Simon to work a party of hipsters and the well-to-do among whom is beautiful Linda (Brenda Scott) the pill-popping daughter of the local district attorney. In-between romantic dalliances and colorful sex-magik ceremonies with Linda Simon must contend with those who dare to challenge his magical prowess eventually forcing him to summon dark forces of revenge and murder.Also starring Warhol Factory regular Ultra Violet as Sarah and an array of trippy 2001-styled special effects Simon King of the Witches is a shining vehicle for Andrew Prine (Grizzly The Centerfold Girls) who gives a mesmerizing performance as Simon in this hip funny and often bizarre countercultural cult classic by director Bruce Kessler (The Gay Deceivers).System Requirements:Running Time: 99 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY/COMEDY OF ERRORS UPC: 030306815497 Manufacturer No: DVD8154
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
A Fine Comedy April 27, 2008
Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas)
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
"Simon, King of the Witches"
A Fine Comedy
Amos Lassen
"Simon, King of the Witches" is a very funny film. It is a little witty, comic thriller with a bravura performance by Andrew Prine. Simon is a warlock and an occult magician who is very serious about his work. He tries to explain what a witch really is and no one wants to listen.
Let me tell you from the very beginning. This is not a sexually amoral cult film. Instead the movie is about Simon's involvement in attempts to put a hex on the local district attorney. What the movie is really about is how ignorant we are about the world of the spirits and about those who try to be able to contact it or control it. Simon does not seem so much a witch as a shaman. The words Satan and G-d are never mentioned in the film and the movie is related from a secular point of view. Simon is simply a trained professional who has the ability to be able to influence the nature of humans and the elements.
Simon lives in the storm drain underneath the city. He meets a hippie who takes him to a party at a rich man's house and he begins his adventures--war on the police department, love, and a really honest performance.
It seems to me that the movie is only half serious and at times seems very campy. There is a freaky feel to the entire project and the film is at times hard to follow but it is fun. There is a lot of psychedelia in the film and it reminded me of the old Haight-Asbury scene.
 Simon, King of the Magical Movies August 28, 2008
silver elves (honolulu, hi.)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
While this is not a perfect movie, it is a great movie, one of the few about real magic and a real magician. It is sly, witty, and despite its failings, quite brilliant. It never fails to move and inspire us. We seldom see movies more than once but we've seen this one over a dozen times. If you love magic, you will most likely love this movie. If you love movies, you'll appreciate the innovation and creativity that went into this one. It truly is magic.
kyela,
the silver elves
 Simon Curses the Establishment--Should Curse His Poverty Too! June 27, 2008
Jack Shatter (Chicago, Illinois)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Simon, the witch of 1971 L.A., is sincere and capable, but only manages to
move his headquarters from a cubbyhole in a storm drain to a rented
basement space during this bizarre tale. Most of his focus is to bring
down a poseur (who wrote him a bum check), and the police force and D.A.
He name-drops alot of mythical beings, and conjures up a glowing-red
vortex to harm his enemies. His most entertaining attempt at hexing
involves the unclad participation of fragile and big-eyed Brenda Scott.
The occult yarn gets even stranger when Simon, like Marvel's Dr. Strange,
steps into a Magic Mirror, reeling through a "2001" inspired "psychedelic
light show," to try to save Brenda Scott from evil forces. You couldn't
say things work out too well, but Simon instructs us that "Death is only
temporary."
Andrew Prine was a wise choice for playing Simon. He reminded me of the
young Ian Anderson of "Jethro Tull" fame, in looks and insouciant manner.
Another possible model was Niall MacGinnis as conjurer Karswell in the
1957 "Night of the Demon." Prine's occult line-readings were much like
those of MacGinnis--could Simon be Karswell's long-lost American son?
"Simon" is another crazy B-movie gem from the long-ago Countercultural
Stoner Occult Hippie times!
Hail Simon! July 30, 2008
Darrick Dishaw (Madison, WI)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i picked up this DVD at best buy and knew instantly that it would be worth seeing. great performance and authentically written, Simon is a real warlock. they didn't make many films like this back in the day... and they make even fewer now.
the actor who played Simon reminded me a bit of Dean Stockwell in The Dunwhich Horror. and i'm guessing that the authors of the Necronomicon from the 70's collectively used the name Simon as editor based on this movie.
if you're interested in a film that is understated and profound, then watch Simon, King of the Witches. some of it's corny and i wish every scene could have been in sharp focus, but one can't have everything.
Ia Ia,
Venger As'Nas Satanis
Cult of Cthulhu High Priest
An Insider's Look at the insider's look: Hollywood Occult Scene, 1970 July 15, 2008
Thabion (Orange, CA USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
Simon, King of the Witches
Directed by Bruce Kessler. Written by Robert Phippeny, 1971
This film has several levels of meaning. Superficially it appears to be a stylish excursion through the Southern California psychedelic pop-culture era of self-styled warlocks and witches circa 1970. This was a time when magick was in the air and even the mundane world had a mysterious shimmer and sparkle. There will never be a time quite like it again - And for those of us caught in the spell of that bygone era, Southern California was the Land of Oz.
You can recapture the flavor and mystery of that now-ancient time and faraway place with the excellent DVD reissue of the 1971 film Simon, King of The Witches. How do I know this? Because according to urban myth, I was the real-life (if any of our lives at that time could be called "real") model for the character of Simon Sinistari, the Hollywood warlock in the film.
Now that requires some qualification: I never lived in a storm drain, I never performed an 11th degree operation (gay sex magick), and I never killed anybody, but other than that, how many black bearded, cigar smoking, wine drinking, witch-bashing, self-proclaimed mighty wizards were there prowling the streets of Hollywood during the 1969-70 years? I ask this question because, in the excellent commentaries included in this reissue, both the actor Andrew Prine and the director Bruce Kessler state that screen writer Robert Phippeny was himself "a warlock" and the model for his own character. If this is true I will be more than happy to concede Simon's tarnished crown to Phippeny----but I would like to know where he was while we were "doing his thing."
The general consensus among the "old guard" (some of us did survive!) is that Robert Phippeny was at least a first-hand observer and a student of "The Black Arts." He kept a low profile, whereas I did not. He may have used another name on the street. Many of us did. He had obviously read Aleister Crowley and Franz Bardon (putting him light years ahead of most witches in the magick department). The "magick" depicted in Simon comes closer to actual practice than anything previously shown on the screen----or subsequently for that matter. But just to be picky we should point out that there is no such thing as an "effluvial condenser" although effluvium is an appropriate ingredient for certain "fluid" condensers which could be charged sexually but would then have to be applied to the magick mirror, not hung over it as in the film. However this error may have been intentional in order to achieve a more dramatic effect. Phippeny's knowledge of Bardon on sex magick is apparent in the colors of Simon's and Linda's ceremonial robes: Simon wears blue and Linda wears red, reversing the polarities to create a dynamic interchange
(see Initiation into Hermetics page 247 or 308 in the 2nd edition).
But we still want to know just what astrological aspect Simon was trying to exploit in his major magical working set for 1:33 p.m.?
Robert Phippeny certainly did his homework, but don't try to use Simon as a training film anymore than you would use Saving Private Ryan as a guide to actually saving Private Ryan.
Beyond all the technical expertise demonstrated in the film we have what I consider a very good story---perhaps too good, and certainly too deep for the market the distributors appealed to. Director Bruce Kessler laments this in his commentary. The screen play is witty, sharp and well-crafted, although it gets a bit confusing in the end, obviously due to budget and time constraints. With all the limitations and the brief production time, Kessler and as his crew were really trying to make a meaningful film. Along that line I should point out that the novelized version of Simon, King of the Witches (Dell 1971) is an excuse for hack pornography by "Baldwin Hills" (name taken from a Southern California community) and serves only to remind the aspiring screen writer never to permit any novelized version of his work over which he has no control.
So, if Robert Phippeny is still out there somewhere, here's a five-star review from "the old guard." Let's hear from you. Same goes for Andrew Prine and Bruce Kessler. You gave us a terrific memorial to our personal, funky, trippy, long-gone Land of Oz.
But perhaps the biggest unsolved mystery in Simon, King of the Witches are the identities of its stars? I always thought Andrew Prine and Brenda Scott had top billing. Who are Allyson Ames and Norman Burton?
Poke Runyon
Writer-Producer: Beyond Lemuria
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