In Praise of Gunter Hoven

Gunter Hoven was Austrian born actor who only played a good guy character once in his career.  Because of his looks-Facial scarring from a bizarre cow tipping accident in his youth- he was always typecast as a villain.  He began his acting career in West Germany, playing heavies in a series of movies based on English author Chico Wallace’s suspense novels.  THE DOOR WITH NO HANDLE (1961), THE CASE OF THE CLUELESS MURDER (1962), THE MAN WITH THE CRIMSON ALIBI (1963), THE MURDER CLUB OF SOHO (1964) and NINE KILLERS, ONE CORPSE (1964).  He moved on to playing similar slimy characters in the burgeoning Eurospy genre including THE FOX, THE WOLF AND THE JACKYL (1966), FROM THE THAMES TO THE TIBER aka PASSPORT TO DOOMSDAY (1967).  He graduated to playing the main villain in 1967’s THE QSTAR CONSPIRACY.

But it was within the pseudo-historic witch hunting films that he found his niche.  Hoven starred in a handful of these torture films including THE MAN WITH THE MARK OF SATAN (1970), THE WITCH CATCHER (1971), CHILDREN OF THE WITCH’S SABBATH (1972), CARRY ON WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1973) aka HERE A WITCH, THERE A WITCH (US theatrical retitling) and THE COVEN LOVERS (1974).  

Each one of these featured Hoven hunting, accusing, torturing and killing many pretty, young, buxom ladies suspected of conspiring with the devil.  These films were popular all over the world and some were quite controversial.  THE WITCH CATCHER was advertised as being banned in 19 countries.  Whether this was true or not is debatable.  What isn’t debatable, is the amount of violent torture on display.  Name a human appendage and it was more than likely ripped off, burned, stretched or smashed in one of Hoven’s movies.  

The British made CARRY ON WITCHFINDER GENERAL aka HERE A WITCH, THERE A WITCH stands out from the rest as it is a comedic parody of the genre that has Hoven playing a secret member of a witch's coven masquerading as a Witchfinder General and going through all sorts of increasingly absurd machinations to not out himself and protect the witches from persecution.

Astonishingly, Hoven briefly became a mainstay in the teen idol magazines that peppered magazine racks around the world, sharing pages with dreamboats like David Cassidy, The Bay City Rollers and even more astonishingly . . . Idi Amin (decked out in tennis whites with a red and black checkerboard sweater vest wrapped around his neck).  Was there actually a time in history when teen girls were mooning over a fold out poster of Gunter Hoven on their wall?  Idi Amin, we can understand.

Hoven retired from acting by 1980 and enjoyed the life of a gentleman-farmer until his death in 1993.

Be on the lookout for a career spanning interview with Hoven in the September 1990 issue of Torture Gazette Quarterly.