Bewitched Housewives (2007)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
In the 1600s Salem, a woman (Beverly Lynne) is about to be hanged after she's accused of being a witch and having sex with vegetables. The witch Angelique (Nicole Sheridan) agrees to save her from death but the woman must go to present day and pretend to be a housewife so that the coven can gain more people. If it wasn't for a free preview of The Movie Channel it's doubtful I would have ever seen this movie but I was happy that I did for a couple reasons. For starters, it certainly brought back a nostalgic memory of when I was younger and on weekend the friends and I would stay up late to catch the latest softcore flick that was usually playing on Cinemax in the wee hours of the morning. Another reason this film turned out to be pretty good is that director Fred Olen Ray is obviously a fan of various horror movies as we get a couple nice homages including a joke about "twins of evil" during one of the lesbian sex scenes. It should go without saying but you really don't go to a movie like this for the story or performances. The shocking thing here is how good Lynne actually was in her part and especially early on when she's about to be put to death and she just doesn't quite get what's going on. There's a comedy bit about having sex with vegetables and the actress comes off so charming that I couldn't help but laugh at the situation. Even her playing dumb was well done in some of the later scenes. She and Sheridan have a couple pretty erotic sex scenes that will certainly keep the male viewers happy. For the most part the erotic scenes are well-shot and the beautiful women certainly aren't a negative thing. Also in the cast is Ted Newsome doing a good job with the role of Brother Hopkins. Those familiar with the horror genre will probably know some of Newsome's work including his professional relationship with Christopher Lee who plays his own version of this character. BEWITCHED HOUSEWIVES lasts just 78-minutes and even that seems a tad bit long at times but I think the film delivers at what something like this should. It's certainly not a masterpiece or even a good film but there's enough charm to make it worth viewing if you like this sort of thing.
