Two Witches

TWO WITCHES is the kind of modern indie horror that inevitably leaves me cold. It's low budget, small scale and entirely predictable, featuring a bland young cast who find themselves assailed by a couple of old-fashioned witches. The story is so limited that the first half cuts off to introduce a whole new milieu in the second. As with a lot of these modern films, this one's overdirected to the hilt, with OTT transitions and camera effects to try to make it scary, but of course it doesn't work. Add in some gurning actors and a few nasty moments and you have something that doesn't even come close to horror.

Now, the concept idea of "Two Witches" definitely sounded interesting from the movie's synopsis, and a movie with witchcraft is usually always something fun to watch. And as such, I opted to sit down and watch the 2021 horror movie "Two Witches" from writers Kristina Klebe, Maxime Rancon and Pierre Tsigaridis without actually having heard of the movie prior to watching it.

The storyline was somewhat of a chaotic heap for me. I didn't enjoy being constantly bombarded with random footage that was supposed to be something like impressions or visions? It was just distracting and grew tiring really fast. So director Pierre Tsigaridis's 2021 movie "Two Witches" was a swing and a miss in terms of entertaining me.

I gave up on watching the movie, because the way that the movie was constructed and presented didn't appeal to my particular preference and taste in movies and entertainment. So the fact that the storyline had some appeal just fell to the ground. And I have zero interest in returning to finish watching "Two Witches".

I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in this movie, and despite of me not enjoying the movie in general, I will say that the actors and actresses were doing fair enough jobs. It wasn't their fault that the writing was inadequate and that the director was all over the place.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Two Witches", I just happened not to be in that particular target audience. I am not sure how true the movie was to actual witchcraft.

My rating of "Two Witches" lands on a generous three out of ten stars, given the production value of the movie.

This is a movie that I got the opportunity to see thanks to Justin Cook who sent it over as a screener. What intrigued me was that I heard a review from another podcaster I respected who enjoyed this. This also helped with my 2022 watches as it is getting its wide release this year. Other than that, I knew this had witches and that is a sub-genre that intrigues me. We don't get a lot of good movies, so I my interest was piqued.

Synopsis: witches don't die before leaving their legacy.

We start this movie off hearing an old timey record. There is a baby surrounding by candles. There are also a couple of women who are cackling. One changes into a creature.

This is then told in two chapters. The first is The Boogeywoman. We see a couple out to dinner. She is Sarah (Belle Adams) and she is married to Simon (Ian Michaels). We learn that she is pregnant. Simon looks for a wine to order when Sarah notices a woman staring at her. She is played by Marina Parodi. No matter what she does, this woman won't break it. She even leaves and we see her looking through the glass with a candle.

The couple then head off on a road trip to visit his friend along with his girlfriend. They stop off to use a bathroom and Sarah notices odd things happening inside. She gets sick and thinks she sees the woman from the restaurant staring at her from a distance. Simon doesn't believe her and they get back on the road.

They arrive to hang out with Dustin (Tim Fox) and Melissa (Dina Silva). She is into the occult. Simon is a jerk and mocks her to her face. She brushes it off though. Melissa can tell something is wrong. She wants to help, but it seems what she tries might make things worse as this night descends into a terrifying encounter that may involve The Boogeywoman from the restaurant.

The other chapter is Masha. This is the name of the character played by Rebekah Kennedy. She is an odd woman who lives with Rachel (Kristina Klebe). Masha has an odd one-night stand with a guy who fights her off when she tries to kill him. Rachel thinks he attacked her though. There is something that's not right about this young woman as she starts to take things about her roommate which upsets her. Masha's past is darker than her friend realizes which complicates things further as the two stories come together.

That's where I'll leave my recap and introduction of the characters. Where I'll start is that I want to be honest about something. When I saw Arrow was attached, I was excited. They're a company that does good things with classic and cult movies. When they attach themselves to something that is new, I tend to enjoy it. We get a movie there that sets the tone early. I can see people being triggered with what they do. It is reminiscent of The Witch. If you are familiar with lore that bordered into Satanism in film history, then you have an idea of what I'm talking about.

Where I want to shift then would be that this doesn't pull its punches. It also comes hard with the atmosphere and tone being dark. There is built in peril with Sarah. It is compounded by the fact that Simon doesn't believe her. I can see his point of view. He is looking at things logically. What is interesting on top of this is that Melissa realizes there is something going on. Dustin 'believes' in the things that she does with nature and the occult, until it he needs to. He doesn't want to upset his friend or get Sarah even more riled up. This builds tension for me. Where things go when they check on her gets quite creepy as well. There is a troupe used with this that I'm not the biggest fan and that deals with dreams. I can work with here though as it is used to drive a character insane.

These ideas also bleed over into the second story. That one is deals with an intriguing look at Masha who is off. She makes weird comments about her grandmother being promiscuous. I like that Rachel is 'normal'. This can be taken literal or just the fact that she can understand social cues. Masha can't. It gets creepier when she starts to take on things from Rachel's past that she was told. That doesn't stop there. Masha looks up to Rachel and wants things that she has. Something else that struck me is that Rachel believes Masha was attacked during the opening sexual encounter. This is an interesting look at the current state of the world, since Masha was the aggressor here. I like using this as it gives an interesting perspective.

That should be enough for the story so I want to shift over to the filmmaking next. This is my favorite apart of this movie. We get such creepy cinematography and editing. There are sequeces that are sped up. I'm assuming this is done by removing a frame here and there so things don't move naturally. We also get long takes that build tension. The soundtrack also helps build this atmosphere it is going for. The only issue I have is that they go CGI with certain things. There isn't enough to ruin things for me, but I noticed it. The rest of the effects were good, especially when done practical.

The last thing then would be the acting. I thought that it was solid. I felt that the actors fit their characters. Kennedy was good as Masha. She does so well at being someone who is meek in the beginning. As things go, she gains more confidence, which makes her scarier. Klebe is solid as Rachel. Fox is a bit of an idiot, but like the change with his character of Dustin. Adams was good with what she goes through. It gets quite traumatic to be honest. Silva was good along with Michaels. What is funny about him is that I despised him. That is good though to get a reaction out of me. Other than that, I would say that Parodi and Emma Wilde are both creepy. That works for what was needed as well.

In conclusion, this is a movie that doesn't pull its punches. It tries to be shocking without going over the top in my opinion. I think that we get good filmmaking that help build the atmosphere and made me anxious. The acting helped bring the characters to life. I also enjoy the story well enough. Not the best film in this subgenre, but I'd say that this is worth a viewing for sure. Also be warned, some people might be triggered by things in this movie. I don't want to spoil what it is, but it does have to do with pregnancy and babies.

My Rating: 7 out of 10.

"Two Witches" follows two different women in semi-overlapping stories who are targeted by an aging witch attempting to utilize them for two different reasons.

This directorial debut by Pierre Tsigaridis is a ghoulish romp from start to finish, replete with disturbing imagery and some effective scenes of violence. While it does virtually nothing to reinvent the wheel, the film does utilize the tropes of the witch-themed films of the '60s an '70s fairly effectively, and at its best, offers some haunting visual compositions and noble attempts at tying these two stories together. Despite some press and reviews I've read, it is really not an anthology film, as each story overlaps the other; the common denominator is the nefarious witch each woman encounters.

While I appreciate what the filmmakers attempted to do in terms of grafting these two tales into a single film, the execution is at times not the most graceful, and some of the editing choices (specifically an overuse of flashy jump cuts and blackouts) feel maladroit and overdone. The film is replete with homages to a number of classic horror films, with the first entry tipping its hat to "Rosemary's Baby" in more ways than one; the second story, which is perhaps slightly more engaging than the first, has more than a few visual nods to Dario Argento's "Suspiria", specifically the ornate and gothic bedroom chamber of the film's villainous witch, which heavily resembles that featured in "Suspiria".

Although the film's second story stumbles in its conclusion with a handful of narrative gaps that lack clarity, the segment overall is bolstered by a nervy, deranged performance from Rebekah Kennedy that really stands out. Kristina Klebe (known to genre fans for her role in Rob Zombie's "Halloween" remake) is also a nice presence, though her role is not especially substantial here.

Overall, while "Two Witches" is not a revelatory piece, it is truly entertaining, and offers enough standout visuals to keep genre fans engaged. While the weaving together of the two-part story doesn't fully land, I appreciate what the filmmakers were attempting to do here. Despite its lack of connective tissue, it is certainly one of the better indie horror movies I've seen in awhile. 6/10.

Okay, so the writing and acting are absolutely terrible, and the look is very low budget, as is the sound mixing/dialogue. There are some silly parts/facial expressions that made me laugh (reminded me of Drag Me To Hell.) But most importantly, I wasn't bored. It really kept me engaged. I find a lot of horror movies to be incredibly boring, so I'm happy when I watch a film like this. Has some good jump scares, and it was actually pretty scary! I would definitely watch it again.

I thought this movie was being released later this year (2022) and was pleasantly surprised to find it on Prime already.