The Witch Who Came from the Sea
The Witch Who Came from the Sea is a 1976 American psychological horror film directed by Matt Cimber. It is one of the 72 films on the Director of Public Prosecutions' video nasties list, later dropped without a successful prosecution.
Millie Perkins is extraordinary in it. A sad film about incest and memory, banned as a gore film.
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A quiet, extremely sad film about incest and memory, listed among cannibal pictures and kept out of Britain for decades as a result.
Molly works in a bar, looks after her sister's boys, and tells them stories about a heroic father lost at sea. What actually happened to her is disclosed in fragments, out of order, and never spoken plainly.
Millie Perkins is remarkable. She had played Anne Frank in 1959 and then largely disappeared, and this is the best work of her career: Molly is warm, funny and completely unreliable, and the film stays with her while she comes apart.
Shot by Dean Cundey before he shot Halloween.
There is very little gore in it. It is on the list because of the title, which is the clearest single illustration that nobody was watching these films before adding them.
Banned, seized, prosecuted
DPP 72 · listed, then dropped
A quiet, sad film about incest and memory with almost no gore in it, listed among cannibal pictures. Millie Perkins' performance was not seen in Britain for decades as a result.
UK now Passed 18 uncut
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Trailer
The sleeves
The same film, sold as a different film in each territory. Click any of them.
Where to watch
UK
USA
Legal sources only. Availability data from JustWatch via TMDB.
Checked 9 Aug 2026
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