The Book of the Witch

Directed by Joshua Sowden, THE BOOK OF THE WITCH is a solid micro-budget indie horror film that blends Western American folk horror, with supernatural witch fantasy. It oozes lots of dreamy atmosphere and great wide angle shots with darkened silhouettes of our characters, giving us this doom impending slow burning mystery. I was very impressed with the production and cinematography right from the get go, and all done on a micro budget of $12k.

Victoria, who is plagued by her fear of death, becomes obsessed with tracking down a witch and stealing her book of spells out in the Californian desert; to help cheat death and become eternal, but there's a price to be paid. Like a moth drawn to the flame, you already sense the impending doom that's awaiting like a well planned trap. The visuals from Joshua Sowden were created nicely and I really enjoyed the dreamy sound design too.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed THE BOOK OF THE WITCH, and thought the cast were all very solid with their performances. Krishna Smitha was excellent throughout the whole film and her chemistry with Danny Parker-Lopes was great too. Despite some little issues I had towards the end, where I felt personally that the film may have hurried itself to the finish line, I still enjoyed the film as a whole. I also loved the psychological hallucinatory fever dream feel throughout the whole story in a way that reminded me of David Lynch. I'll definitely be looking out for further projects from these filmmakers in the future.

Any movie that repeatedly, let alone once, uses green fire CGI is a joke. I wanted to like movie and am currently still watching just to get thru it... So many good reviews I'm waiting for the redeeming scene... It definitely wasn't the beginning scene ppl apparently think is "good"... Idk been FFing a lot so .. yeah movie drags.. if there is actually a redeeming factor to this cheesy film I'll come back .. but don't hold your breath.

Verdict on The Book of the Witch Recap

The movie follows a security guard who is haunted by something from her past. She is investigating a supernatural connection which leads her down a path and confronting the same entity which haunts her.

Best Parts

The movie uses the haunted soul hunting for answers to drive the story forward. We get two people who are alone in the world and must overcome their demons to solve the problem. Along with the witches' presence being more open and haunting, it makes things feel more terrifying in places.

Worst Parts

The location is strange with a large part of the movie being set in a large, abandoned building in the middle of the city. It works at times but also can feel a bit more out of place too.

Final Thoughts -The Book of the Witch creates a compelling mystery.

The acting was on point! The chemistry between the 2 leads was great. The witch was creepy asf and she also did an amazing job of humanizing something we usually deem evil. The visuals and score and audio were great as well.

The story was something any of us can get behind. A healthy fear of death, someone we care about deeply, a moral compass, a price we are willing to pay for something we THINK we really want. I think the majority of people have all of these traits and I think this movie does a great job of showcasing the eb and flow between all of them. The Book of the Witch is definitely one that shouldn't be slept on.

It's amazing to see what can be achieved in such little time, and on such a small budget. This short horror film we got was pretty damn good. It had such a good story, some good actors and some great scenes in there. I liked the story and the characters friendship was very believable. The witch herself looked awesome and very old school style, like something out of Wizard of Oz!

I will be keeping an eye out for these film makers and really look forward to seeing what they come up with next! Definitely support these guys by checking out this film, but bare in mind it is low budget and not a Hollywood blockbuster.