Rito satánico

WITCHCRAFT opens centuries ago, with a man and a pregnant woman being burned at the stake. This is intercut with modern day scenes of a woman named Grace (Anat Topol) giving birth. Grace is seeing visions of the ancient couple's toasty torment, as they look increasingly like baked ziti.

Let's just say that it's a difficult delivery.

Later, Grace's husband, John (Gary Sloan), convinces her that they should move into his mother's big, spooky house. Strange occurrences start right away, with Grace experiencing dizzy spells, blackouts, and nightmares. There's also a creepy butler, and a mysterious, unused part of the house. Then, a visiting priest is reduced to something akin to a sausage left too long in the microwave! Could black magic be afoot?

Conspiratorial gloom settles in, resulting in further death and awfulness. Isn't this what all new moms hope for?

WITCHCRAFT certainly has that 1980's, supernatural movie charm going on. Though the cheeeze-level runs from medium to high, it's actually better that much of the straight-to-video sludge of the era. At least Ms. Topol is convincing in her harried role.

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- The sound effects during one dinner scene, making it seem as though everyone is crunching clam shells with their teeth! #2- Mom (Mary Shelley), who is so quietly malevolent! #3- The satanic "shock" finale!...

How many Witchcraft films were there? 13? 14? I don't know, but this, the first, is not like the others.

It is a repackaged Rosemary's Baby. and doesn't have the sex scenes of the later films in the Witchcraft series.

This film has all the elements you would expect in a Gothic horror film: a creaky old house, mood music, a scary butler, strange dreams, and lots of screaming and blood. And, we need to mention the creepiest of them all, the Mother-in-Law.

It may have been low budget, but it still was interesting and worth the time spent.

As Grace Churchill (Anat Topal-Barzilai) gives birth to her son William, images of a pair of witches being burnt at the stake flash through her mind. On leaving hospital, Grace's husband John (Gary Sloan) informs her that she will be staying at his mother's home for a while until she is ready to cope by herself. Before long, Grace starts to experience strange occurrences that eventually lead her to believe that John and his mother, Elizabeth (Mary Shelley), are up to something strange.

Rather unbelievably, this tepid supernatural thriller, which clearly takes its cues from Rosemary's Baby, has spawned fifteen sequels to date, apparently finding an appreciative audience by including plenty of nudity and soft-core sex. This first film, however, offers nothing in that department: it's dull, uneventful drivel for most of the running time, only coming to life in the final ten minutes where extremely patient viewers are rewarded with a spot of much needed gore, including a decapitation and an impalement.

As a horror movie completist, I now feel compelled to watch the rest in the series, no matter how bad they get: wish me luck… I get the feeling I will need it.

Witchcraft is the first of no less than 16 movies and that is highly impressive!

It tells the story of a woman who goes to stay with her mother in law after she gives birth to her first child. Trouble is her husband and mother in law aren't what they seem and have ties to the occult.

Watchcraft first of all is unforgivably boring, very little happens. I think it's doing this for the purpose of building tension but it fails miserably.

When things do happen they look so poor as intended impact is lost.

I do hope the franchise improves as I'm 1/16 and suffering already.

The Good:

The fact that the franchise lasted so long is impressive

The Bad:

Very boring

Unoriginal

Generic cliched finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Witchcraft must get better or it wouldn't have lasted so long, right?

So the time has come for me to finally watch and review the WITCHCRAFT series that incredibly has created count 'em 15 sequels. After watching the original I am not sure why it deserved even one.

Its the story of new mother Grace Churchill (Anat Topal-Barzilai) who with hubby (Gary Sloan under the name Edward Ross) and new baby William go to her mother-in-law's (Mary Shelley...sadly, not the one who wrote Frankenstein) house to recover and regain her strength. Problem is the mother-in-law might be hiding some dark secrets.

In the end a slow-moving, not very original horror movie. Mixed with at times shaky acting (although mother-in-law Shelley does well in her role) and sub-par delivery. Maybe try ROSEMARY'S BABY or if wanting a witch movie try THE WIZARD OF OZ.