Witchcraft (Video 1988)

A new mother and her child move into her mother-in-law's dark old mansion. She soon begns to suspect that neither the house nor her mother-in-law are quite what they seem to be.

Director:

Rob Spera

Writer:

Jody Savin

Stars:

Anat Topol, Gary Sloan, Mary Shelley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anat Topol	...	Grace Churchill (as Anat Topal-Barzilai)
Gary Sloan	...	John Stocton (as Newton, Edward Ross)
Mary Shelley	...	Elizabeth Stocton
Deborah Scott	...	Linda
Alexander Kirkwood	...	Priest
Lee Kissman	...	Ellsworth
Ross Newton	...	William
Charles Grant	...	Dr. Adler
Lilian Lane	...	Nurse #1
Karen Michaels	...	Nurse #2
Cynthia Bell	...	Hospital Nurse
Victoria Ressurection	...	Hospital Nurse
Ofelia Montano	...	Hospital Nurse
Steve Decker	...	Dead Father
Trevor Narom	...	Burned Husband

Storyline

A new mother and her child move into her mother-in-law's dark old mansion. She soon begns to suspect that neither the house nor her mother-in-law are quite what they seem to be.

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Plot Keywords:

first of series | witch | witchcraft

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Taglines:

After 300 years they are back.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 March 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Witch and Warlock

Filming Locations:

Thomas W. Phillips Residence - 2215 S. Harvard Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the priest arrives at the Stocton house, he is wearing a grey clerical suit. Immediately after his vision of fire burning the Stoctons, his suit has changed to black.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Grace Churchill: William!

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Connections

Referenced in Obscurus Lupa Presents: Eyes of the Werewolf (2012)

User Reviews

Rosemary's Baby Lite

Kind of hard to see at first how this low budget rehash of ROSEMARY'S BABY spawned a thirteen chapter series of sexy horror skin flicks, but there you go. The WITCHCRAFT series direct-to-video films have always intrigued me because of their honest approach at giving its viewers what they wanted: Sex and horror elements combined into cheap, disposable entertainment aimed squarely at the video rental crowd.

To a degree they and the Seduction Cinema type productions mixing over eroticism with community theater caliber horror movie trappings can be seen as an offspring of the erotic horror genre films that came out of Europe especially during the 1970s. Which were also low budget independently distributed alternative forms of entertainment to mainstream cinemas. If they'd had access to video distribution they would have utilized that too. The only difference between the bulk of the series and something like a Paul Naschy Waldemar Daninsky potboiler are the addition of more frequent sex scenes, less emphasis on gory shock sequences, and a lot less pubic hair.

The WITCHCRAFT films were also more aimed at couples, as far as I can tell, with a sexy story of intrigue and gorgeous actresses & actors to keep the ladies interested with a few horror scenes now and then to reassure the guys they weren't suckered into watching a chick flick. There's nudity, sex, and objectification galore to be sure, but its not just limited to the female characters. Everybody is objectified by the WITCHCRAFT films, with careful attention to casting for both genders to make sure that fans of the human form of any persuasion will find them entertaining. The stories may be stupid and the execution hokey, but they deliver the goods and their effectiveness is reflected by the twelve sequels that followed this one.

Which is what makes this installment stand out from the rest of the series, in that its a genuine attempt to make a supernatural shocker whose erotic content is limited to a couple of underwear scenes. Its actually a pretty earnest if somewhat unimaginative take on its source material, appropriately updated for late 80s yuppie types but relying on the good old archetypes: The menacing housekeeper, the frenetic dream hallucinations, an eerie mystery room holding answers to the secrets, a great decapitation scene, and a decently concocted story about damnation passed down for generations & revenge from beyond the grave.

All standard issue stuff and handled professionally. If nothing else WITCHCRAFT is probably the most technically adept installment from the series, but ultimately lacks the payoff in fleshy goods that the reputation of the series suggests. Which by the way isn't the film's fault, it was the starting point, and its success allowed the producers to come back for another go, where they pushed their idea into what would turn out to be a very marketable form. Respect them in the morning or not the WITCHCRAFT films generated a solid cult following and remain in demand, which isn't surprising considering how direct they were in fulfilling the need for sexy erotic horror movies that you could watch with your squeeze.

This one too, though they kept it pretty much a straightforward spooker, and the result paid off. Its not a particularly bad film for that matter, though I feel that gals will respond to it better than the guys, who can keep quiet & wait politely until part two to get their jollies off. And if you like this movie plus haven't already, please watch ROSEMARY'S BABY sometime. I think you'd like it too.

4/10