Witchcraft IX: Bitter Flesh (1997)
* (out of 4)
Detectives Lutz and Garner are investigating some strange murders, which seem to be influenced by Satan worshipers from Egypt (?). Meanwhile, the spirit of Will Spanner (David Byrnes) finds a hooker (Landon Hall) who has the ability to hear him and they team up for a good cause. WITCHCRAFT IX isn't going to be mistaken for the work of John Ford but then again it's not going to be mistaken for the work of Al Adamson so take that as you will. I'm really not sure why so many people kept renting these movies back in the day but I'm going to guess that it was 99% males just looking for some fast and cheap nudity while they drank beer with their buddies. Going through this series today I can't help but somewhat admire that the producers were ripping off Hollywood pictures more than a decade before The Asylum. This film here is basically PRETTY WOMAN meets GHOST, which in itself is pretty funny. The GHOST elements are oh-so-obvious but having the spirit team up with a hooker was just a good call. It's really too bad the film wasn't either better made or just played for laughs because this could have been something much better. Sadly, the entire thing is just downright boring, unerotic and quite confusing as well. There's so much dialogue that the characters are always talking about something new yet I must admit that I started tuning them out after a while. The plot never really makes much sense but then again it doesn't make much sense that this series was still going on at this point.
