Witch-Hunt

USA Film Festival 2017

Greetings again from the darkness. There may not be a mass-market audience for ultra low-budget supernatural horror-thriller-comedies, but that doesn't stop writer/director Philip Schaeffer and his cast of seven actresses from delivering a rollicking good time.

Best viewed late at night and preferably with a group of friends smart enough to enjoy a bit of satire, and not so pseudo-intellectual as to be unable to cut loose and possibly even create a new drinking game (not that such uncultured and unruly behavior would be encouraged). In fact, just keeping up with one of the character's propensity to shift from red to white wine and back again requires somewhat of a clear head and attention span.

Five ladies gather in clock-filled home to play a board game that could be named "Who is the Witch?" The clocks don't really matter, but do make for interesting set pieces and might also play into someone's unconventional drinking game. The birthday girl (Robyn Purcay) who receives the game as a gift is very excited to play, while the emotions of the others range from 'OK, I'll play along' to utter disdain (from the striking Abby Eiland).

The movie is divided into the different rounds played during the game … with each of the five participants getting special attention during a particular round. Additionally, the story has an external structure thanks to a late night strategy session at a book publishing firm. Of course, the story doesn't really matter. What matters is the periodic creepiness and abundance of humor stemming from the conversations of wine-guzzling, long-time friends who share a clouded and traumatic childhood memory.

Other than the aforementioned Ms. Eiland and Ms. Purcay, the other actresses involved here are Melina Chadbourne, Erin Curtis, Lillian Olive, Suzanne Blunk and Trisha Miller. Each brings their own style to the fun, and special mention goes to cinematographer Olivia Kuan, whose camera work provides the necessary claustrophobia and unease necessary to keep viewers guessing.

Going into this, watching the trailer, reading the synopsis, I thought it was such a cool premise. Interesting way to throw a lot of building, creepy tone and almost like a "who dunnit" kind of story, but of the supernatural kind. However, the acting was a little painful to watch and ultimately, the backstories/additions to the plot lines were cut so short, it all never really came together and the whole thing repeatedly felt unfinished. I caught myself saying "what, what?" more than a few times. I definitely enjoyed myself, but oh, man, there was so much missed opportunity here. I rarely say this, but I would love if a more experienced filmmaker took this, cleaned up the script and remade it. The outcome of who's the witch is also muddy and if they'd just taken another 5 minutes to tidy it up, it would have been much more satisfying. Worth a watch, but don't get your hopes up too far.

Not my type of movie. Acting was good, but, I was thinking horror/thriller. Not watching a group of women--being women.

Chick who did people pleasing Suzanne over acted.

Aight... this movie looks like it was done on a budget of like a couple thousand bucks... with that said, I was pleasantly surprised and actually enjoyed it...

So...

I actually thought the camera work, acting, audio, and script were all actually above par and borderline quite good in some scenes... And while the movie starts off a little slow, the level of suspense picks up pretty quickly... not to mention the fact that the movie hints at all sorts of things, but doesn't give too much away... so again, the suspense / tension is certainly on point by the end of the flick...

I liked the way they hashed out backgrounds for all the characters... and broke the movie up into segments... not unlike a Tarantino film... ( like act 1 this girl / act 2 this girl / etc... )... Beyond that, I actually felt like most of the characters were pretty believable... 5 girls, having a little party, guzzling some wine... The conversations actually seemed very plausible...

The low budget does show in a couple areas... First off, you'll notice that the whole movie is basically shot in somebodies living room... Second, there are practically no special effects... so don't expect any kind of gore fest or flying witches or anything... But I don't think the movie suffered from being mostly dialogue / acting...

They still managed to get in some moderate scares... and a couple "oh, wow, I wasn't expecting that" from me...

So... is it really 7 star? probably not... But I'm giving a bonus point or two for taking a pretty simplistic premise and low budget and being able to ramp up the suspense / tension to better than a lot of other flicks out there...

All in all, this is what I would consider a really well done low budget thriller / borderline horror...

If your judgment is based off the movies budget, maybe reevaluate the way you view films. It's a great "whodunnit" movie & enjoyable to watch. But what I really enjoyed - this is a true story, their youth at least. The film is about a specific case surrounding the satanic panic. They did a nice job in exploring the effects of that abuse.