Witch Hunt (1999) (TV)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Scott Hartford-Davis

Writer:

Shane Brennan (written by)

Release Date:

2 May 1999 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

Based on the true case of a young girl's abduction by her grandparents in Victoria, this tele-movie...

Plot Keywords:

Occult | Police | Father | Grandparent | Kidnapping

Cast

Jacqueline Bisset	...	Barbara Thomas
Cameron Daddo	...	David Overton
Jerome Ehlers	...	Detective Jack Maitland
Suzi Dougherty	...	Jenny Page
William Gluth	...	Ray Thomas
Alexandra Schepisi	...	Linda Thomas
Sullivan Stapleton	...	Craig Thomas
Grant Piro	...	Conlon
Nikki Risteski	...	Hannah 8 Yrs
Richael Tanner	...	Hannah 4 Yrs
Shania Finnigan	...	Hannah Toddler
Rhen Sandner	...	Hannah Baby
Catherine Hill	...	Libby Gleeson
Louis Dingemans	...	Peter Laroy
Gerald Lepkowski	...	Kosgo

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:120 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Abbotsford, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company:

Golden Square Pictures

Witch is Witch?

****Spoiler Alert**** Much better movie then you would expect from a made for TV film about a little girl missing in the Australian countryside and the search for her amid accusations between her grandparents and father on who's responsible for her disappearance.

Hannah Overton, Niki Risteski, disappeared just as her father was coming to take her home from her grandparents with whom she was staying over the weekend. David Overton, Cameron Daddo, was divorced from his wife Linda, Alexandra Schepisi, for some eight years but it wasn't until she died four years ago that he got custody of his daughter Hannah. This to the strong objections of his wife's parents Barbara and Ray Thomas, Jackie Bisset and William Gluth, in that David was a threat to her.

The police felt the same way at first and grilled David at the local police station about his whereabouts at the time of Hannah's disappearance. David tells the police that it's Hannah's grandparents that they should question since he was the one who had custody of his daughter and they didn't so why should he be a suspect? David also tells the police that Hannah's grandmother Barbara is a practitioner of the black arts in general and witchcraft in particular and wants to turn her granddaughter into a witch like herself.

Unbelievable at first the police go to the Thomas home and when they ask Babara if she can explain David's accusations about her she becomes very defensive and seems to be hiding something from them. The police also interview people who know David and they tell them that he's very violent and has a habit of getting drunk and picking fights with anyone who would as much as look cross-eyed at him. They also tell the police that the death of David's wife Linda was also not what people think that it was and hint that he may have had something to do with it, Linda tried to commit suicide when she was still married to David, thus the grandparents fear and resentment of him.

The police uncover a number of facts that hint that something is not right between the two parties who are accusing each other of little Hannah's disappearance and think that something is what they both are trying to hide. Good solid movie about a subject that you would rather not talk about with strangers in fear that they may think that your a little bit off the reservation when it comes to your mental faculties but the subject is all to real to ignore.

Based on a true story about the dark side of nature with an ending that doesn't really end the movie and has you saying to yourself: Can it all be real or is it just my imagination?