FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Witchcraft [1988] [DVD]

Witchcraft [1988] [DVD]
enlarge	Director: Fabrizio Laurenti Actors: David Hasselhoff, Linda Blair, Catherine Hickland, Annie Ross, Hildegard Knef Studio: Stax Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£5.99~~ Buy New: £1.49 as of 23/11/2009 10:47 GMT details You Save: £4.50 (75%) New (4) Used (3) Collectible (1) from £1.29 Seller: morediscsltd Rating: 3 reviews Sales Rank: 27286 Format: PAL, Widescreen Language: English (Unknown) Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over Region: 0 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 95 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5055019500312 ASIN: B00005OB1J Theatrical Release Date: February 21, 1990 Release Date: September 16, 2002 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Once a stalwart of the ex-rental bin, IWitchcraft/I is a sustained riff on IRosemary's Baby/I with a conventional bit of colonial curse business thrown in. It opens with a pair of witches being burned in Puritan New England, a warlock and his pregnant wife, intercutting the mob justice (in point of fact, witches in America were hanged not burned) with a modern-day woman, Grace (Anat Topol-Barzilai), giving birth. With her new baby, Grace moves into the mansion of her blow-dried yuppie husband (Gary Sloan) and his sinister mother (Mary Shelley, no relation) only to find the place equipped with a hulking mute butler, a haunted mirror and sundry cheap phenomena. When a priest calls to see the baby, he is sick at the sight of the little fellow and then develops a severe case of boils that leads to him hanging himself in front of the heroine. It's not hard to spot the villains behind the conspiracy, and things wind up in the attic with a lively round of decapitations, disembowelments, burnings and sacrifices. Competently directed by Robert Spera, with adequate performances from a no-name cast, a droning synth score and some gruesome moments, it's a thoroughly ordinary picture, no better or worse than hundreds of others. The big mystery is how this 1988 title managed to spin off no fewer than ten sequels, up to the 2000 release IWitchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood/I. --IKim Newman/I

Customer Reviews: I LIKED IT August 18, 2007 stuart (MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND) 4 out of 4 found this review helpful Witchery, or Witchcraft as it's commonly known in Europe, beings with Jane Brooks (Linda Blair) waking up from a nightmare involving a witch. Jane's Mother Father Rose (Annie Ross) Freddie (Robert Champagne) are interested in buying an old deserted hotel on an island about 50 miles from Boston, renovating it reopening it. Together with Jane their young son Tommy (Michael Manchester) Rose Freddie are planning to travel to the island with an architect named Linda Sullivan (Catherine Hickland) to check on the amount of work that needs doing, they also meet up with the estate agent Jerry Giordano (Rick Farnsworth) hire a local fisherman named Sam (George Stevens) to take them to the island. Once there they enter the hotel begin to inspect the property while back on the boat Sam is killed the boat is let loose to sail off into the distance. They discover two unexpected guests in the shape of a photographer named Gary (David Hasselhoff) his virgin fiancé Leslie (Leslie Cumming) who happens to be researching a book that she is writing about the gruesome legends superstitions surrounding the infamous island hotel. As the night draws on a raging storm outside isolates them from the mainland as a mysterious 'lady in black' (Hildegard Knef) keeps popping up as the ancient evil that resides in the hotel seeks fresh victims for demonic possession, human sacrifice Satanic rites... br / br /The director of this American Italian co-produced film is somewhat shrouded in mystery as the IMDb lists Fabrizio Laurenti as Martin Newlin but there are rumours that Joe D'Amato did the honours, either way to be honest despite it's bad reputation I found Witchery quite entertaining in a so-bad-it's-good cheesy sort of way. The script credited to Harry Spalding Daniele Stroppa on the Amazon again is confusing too as the actual credit on the film itself is Daniel Davis, anyway whoever wrote this thing did a decent job, please stop laughing. At heart it's a haunted house horror but adds some gory deaths a surreal feeling to everything. The different sets of characters have reasonable motives didn't get on my nerves as much as I'd thought they might, it's not plotted very well, it doesn't make a whole a lot of sense the dialogue isn't exactly top drawer stuff but as a whole Witchery entertained me for it's 95 odd minute duration plain simple. It's reasonably well paced, a little slow to get going maybe but there are plenty of surreal, bizarre goings-on gruesome deaths to keep one amused. One part of Witchery which destroys some of it's credibility is this so-called storm, there is no storm in sight the sea is probably calm enough to swim in, Witchery's supposed 'twist' ending didn't really work for me either just check out the dumb expression on Cummings face on that final freeze-frame. The hotel provides for a good isolated location adds a certain atmosphere to the film which has the distinctive indefinable 'horror' feel throughout, cheap horror at that. Technically Witchery is not too bad at all, it was obviously shot on location so it looks good throughout while not exactly the pinnacle of film-making finesse it's overall production values are slightly better than expected. The violence gore is of typical Euro explicitness, a woman has her lips sewn shut hung inside a fireplace so she can't scream as the others light it, someone is crucified then burned alive, impaled on a swordfish, someones veins expand pop a woman is raped by a man with no lips. Witchery was shot in English so there is no dubbing, as far as acting goes David Hasselhoff Linda Blair in the same film what more can I say?! Yes ladies Hasselhoff does take his shirt off for the lads Cummings takes hers off. Both Hasselhoff Blair are a hoot to watch in this thing, however the little kid is very annoying really can't act at all. I sure most sane film-goers will disagree with my opinions but I still stand by the fact that I liked it would happily watch it again, Witchery is pretty good fun definitely worth a watch if your into 'bad' films or your a horror fan in general. a bit too old-skool November 5, 2002 A. Hatfield (UK) 3 out of 5 found this review helpful in the review guidelines it says not to write one word reviews, but you could about this film, and that would be DISMAL. I bought it on the off-chance of being entertained, and was very disappointed. So many basic and obvious techniques are used, like : Wind blowing at scary moments, or crackling thunder storms. It is also a horribly predictable storyline , and i would confidently say that a scooby doo show contains more mystery and suspense. The two main characters, john and elizabeth who had been mistreated hundreds of yrs ago (Rip-off of The Crucible methinks) are transparent and dull. I would only recomend buying this for a disliked relative at christmas. Just don't go there November 8, 2008 E. Sturkey (UK) 1 out of 2 found this review helpful I saw this DVD on sale for 99p somewhere and thought I'd give it a go - I love supernatural horror movies. However, I can think of much more worthwhile things to spend 99p on! It is so cheesy that you can smell it a mile off, the acting is poor, it's predictable, and obviously quite budgeted. br / br /Unless you really have nothing better to do on a dark and dingy winters evening, don't go there. There are so many better ways to waste your time.

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