Season of the Witch (2011)

Fourteenth century knights transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.

Director:

Dominic Sena

Writer:

Bragi F. Schut (as Bragi Schut)

Stars:

Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Claire Foy

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nicolas Cage	...	Behmen
Ron Perlman	...	Felson
Stephen Campbell Moore	...	Debelzaq
Stephen Graham	...	Hagamar
Ulrich Thomsen	...	Eckhart
Claire Foy	...	The Girl
Robert Sheehan	...	Kay
Christopher Lee	...	Cardinal D'Ambroise
Kevin Rees	...	Dying Monk
Andrew Hefler	...	Jail Bailiff
Fernanda Dorogi	...	Old Woman (Givaudon)
Rebekah Kennedy	...	Peasant Turk Girl
Matt Devere	...	Sergeant in Arms
Róbert Bánlaki	...	Livery Boy
Barna Illyés	...	Cardinal's Priest

Storyline

A 14th century Crusader returns to a homeland devastated by the Black Plague. A beleaguered church, deeming sorcery the culprit of the plague, commands the two knights to transport an accused witch to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence. A priest, a grieving knight, a disgraced itinerant and a headstrong youth who can only dream of becoming a knight join a mission troubled by mythically hostile wilderness and fierce contention over the fate of the girl. When the embattled party arrives at the abbey, a horrific discovery jeopardises the knight's pledge to ensure the girl fair treatment, and pits them against an inexplicably powerful and destructive force.

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Plot Keywords:

middle ages | knight | monk | witch | 14th century | 

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Taglines:

Not all souls can be saved.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence and disturbing content

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Netherlands]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Latin

Release Date:

7 January 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cacería de brujas

Filming Locations:

Budapest, Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,612,375, 9 January 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$24,827,228

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$91,627,228

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlas Entertainment, Relativity Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filming took place in Austria, Hungary and Croatia. Most of the principal photography took place in practical locations, with several days committed to filming on greenscreen. Principal photography was completed by April 2009, but the cast and crew re-gathered a few months later to film additional battle sequences, filming on greenscreen to save on travel. The re-shoots were directed by Brett Ratner.

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Goofs

When the priest is giving trip information to Behmen and Felson he tells them that the Abby is 400 leagues away and roughly 6 days travel. Behmen refers to this with the comment that 300 of those leagues were through rough terrain. A league was considered the distance that a man or horse could walk in one hour or about 3 miles. That means that the Abby was about 1200 miles away and if a man or horse walked 3 miles per hour for 6 days straight with no stopping or resting then they would have walked only 432 miles or about 1/3 the distance. Considering that they would have to take breaks for food, rest, and sleep then that would leave them with about 10 hours a day for walking. That means that they would actually take about 6 weeks, not days, to get there if they traveled every day.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Peasant Girl: No! No... please! I beg you. I beg you. I'm not a witch.

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Connections

References Jaws (1975)

User Reviews

Not so good

I was excited to see the Season of the Witch. I loved The Scorceror's Apprentice, and I actually thought this would be better than that. Looking forward to an epic fantasy, I was highly disappointed. I found myself annoyed at the unnatural behavior of Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman. It was like watching Starsky and Hutch with their witty bantering during battles and in the face of peril. Very cheesy. The movie lacked a good flow. It was mildly entertaining in parts, but never reached any peak, not even at the end, because it was just too absurd. The acting was not good, but I think it was just a poorly written script more than anything else. It seems like it had the makings of a very good movie, but fell very very short.