CRY OF THE BANSHEE

The film is set in Elizabethan England. Assisted by Sean, Lord Edward Whitman, a wicked magistrate, goes hunting in the hills for witches. His armed posse breaks up what is apparently meant to be a witches' Black Sabbath. He kills several of them and tells the rest to scatter to the hills and never return. This angers the leader of the coven, Oona. To get revenge on the Whitman family, Oona summons a demonic spirit to destroy the family. Unfortunately, the spirit takes possession of the loyal servant, Roderick, who Maureen Whitman has been in love with for years.

Whitman presides over the trial of a young woman, Maggie. Ruling that she is a witch, he has her branded, whipped through the streets, then placed in the village stocks. That night, Whitman hosts a feast at his home as his henchmen search the countryside for the killers of a sheep. Two poor teenagers are pulled into the hall. A burst of wolf-like howling from outside the walls warns that they may be "devil-marked". Both are killed in an ensuing struggle. Whitman's wife, Lady Patricia, calls Whitman a murderer for this. When Whitman's oldest son, Sean, rapes Lady Patricia, Whitman decides he wants to "clean up" the witches in the area. Afterwards, Lady Patricia is traumatized and finds comfort in Roderick's presence. Harry, Whitman's son from Cambridge, and a priest named Father Tom, come and join the witch hunts.

Sean Whitman is attacked and killed by a bewitched dog when he and a group of his friends were returning after terrorizing a tavern and the serving wenches there. At the funeral of Sean, Harry and a hunting party find the mad dog that killed Sean and kill it.

At the celebration of the mad dog's death and avenging Sean, Lady Patricia has a breakdown seeing the dog's severed head and she declares that the house of Whitman is cursed. She is only calmed down by Roderick. Whitman and his witch hunters question and torture Maggie to get information about Oona. Maggie confesses to being a witch after being tortured and dies before she can reveal where Oona is, leaving it a riddle "what is born in fire, dies in fire."

Lady Patricia is awakened that night and hears Roderick at her bedroom door; she opens the door but he was not there. She is then attacked by a werewolf-like creature and mauled to death as she flees through the house. Whitman, after seeing Lady Patricia's gray corpse with open eyes at her funeral, declares that it is witchcraft. He is determined to find and kill Oona for her witchcraft and for causing the death of Sean and Lady Patricia. Whitman declares that he will kill anyone he has to in order to find Oona. In order to intimidate the villagers, an innocent tavern wench, Bess, is put on the breaking wheel and burned alive when Bully Boy claims that she knows the heathen ways.

Eventually, Harry and Father Tom follow a secret passage through an open grave and find a grave robber that tells them where the answer to Maggie's riddle is. Whitman discovers Roderick in bed with Maureen and beats him before Whitman has him imprisoned in the torture chamber of the basement.

They find Oona and her coven conjuring the death of Maureen. Oona claims that Roderick never existed, that he is only a sidhe. Harry kills Oona. Roderick, who had escaped and was attacking Maureen, breaks off and leaves her. Harry, Father Tom, and Whitman return and find Maureen alive and unconscious. Harry, Father Tom, and most of the witch hunters go to hunt down Roderick; leaving Whitman in the house and Maureen locked safely in the basement. However, Roderick returns and reunites with Maureen. He begins to transform into the werewolf-like demon and attacks Whitman. Maureen shoots the demon in the face, apparently killing him.

Exhilarated that the curse is over, Whitman plans to leave the house by coach with his remaining children. On the way, he stops at the cemetery so he can reassure himself Roderick is dead. To his horror, he finds the coffin empty. Shocked, Whitman hurries back to the carriage. Once inside, he finds Maureen and Harry dead. It is revealed that his driver, Bully Boy, was killed by Roderick, who is now driving the coach. The film ends with Whitman screeching his driver's name in terror as the coach heads for parts unknown.