“The Woman Who Came Back is a prime example of a mid-forties horror film clearly influenced by Val Lewton - though not produced by him. A first film by a former radio writer, Walter Colmes, who achieved the difficult feat of creating menace and tension in broad daylight. The film concerns the imaginary reincarnation of a 300-year-old witch in the sole survivor of a bus crash, played by Nancy Kelly, most strikingly shown when her mirror image dissolves momentarily into a crone's hideous features. Alarmingly eerie scenes abound, inspired by The Cat People: a woman who suspects Kelly of being a witch is followed by the sinister jingling sound of a dog's name tag; Kelly returning from church, the buzz of a lawnmower the only sound we hear as the sullenly suspicious townsfolk affect not to notice her; Kelly reading about superstitions while a storm rages and a shutter bangs to and fro (a lift from both Vampyr and Day of Wrath); her venture into the church crypt to read the witch lore and discovering the ‘devil dog' blocking the trap door entrance.”