Customer Reviews

Witches Night

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Lately, I've been seeing my share of low-budget movies, especially when it comes to horror. I happen to come across this one so I decided to get it. Yet, when I got it home, I read on the back where someone had said that this movie restored thier faith in horror movies again. I started to regret buying the film. I've heard dozens of comments similar to that and the movie be a real waste of time. Yet, I decided to give it a watch before I'd give it to someone else to deal with. Thankfully, I was proven wrong. This movie was really good movie that kept me interested in the characters and storyline til the thing was over.

The story goes a little something like this....Jim was left at the altar alone by his fiance. So, his friends wisk him up and take him off to some remote woods for some camping and drinking, in search of something to help him get over his loss. They pull over at a small, out of the way convenience store to get some beer when they meet up with a woman named Marge who rents canoes and she tells them a good place to camp. Heck, she even takes them there. Later that evening, they meet four beautiful women and that is when the guys get a little more than they bargained for. It soon ends up being a fight for survival.

I loved the movie myself and, for once the comment of it restored faith in horror movies again, it was a movie that does do that. Very well made low-budget horror. I highly recommend it.

"Witches Night" begins like any other Horror movie, a group of friends take a roadtrip, get drunk, go places that they shouldn't and end up...
Well, the title alone should be a "Dead" givaway as to where they end up!
Writer/Director Paul Traynor serves up a heaping helping of Old School Horror on a steaming plate of suspense and dread.
Brothers "Jim" (Gil McKinney) and "Bill" (Jeff Christian) are joined by two buddies as they try to cheer up "Jim", whom has just been dumped at the alter. Several beers later, they end up in Wisconsin and decide an autumn canoe trip is the way to go, even though the official canoe rental season is over. "Marge" (Betsy Baker from "The Evil Dead") a local canoe outfitter, feels sorry for them, and rents them a few boats anyway.
While camping for the night, they find out that there is also four beautiful "Women" camping not too far from them. And, would you know it, they all hook up for a late night romp under the Autumn moon.
This is the main premise for "Witches Night", but the story goes much deeper, as strange things begin to happen to the guys soon after.
The cinematography for "Witches Night" is outstanding, and the over-all production value is eons above of it's contemporaries when it comes to low budget Horror, and it's score helps to sell the drama in convincing fashion. The acting is quite solid from everyone involved, and the story completely pulls the veiwer in, as it piles on the dread-factor.
I couldn't help but think that "The Blair Witch Project" could have been so much better after seeing this film. The sheer creepiness of the situation being presented to us, is enough to make your skin crawl and "Witches Night" never lets up.
My only complaint would be that the ending seemed a bit rushed, but maybe that's just because I didn't want it to end...
Any true Horror fan should take a gander at this Indie treasure, and young film-makers should take some notes, because this is how it should be done...

I wasn't sure what to make of "Witches' Night" when I got it. The cover intrigued me, though, so I took a chance. I'm glad I did. It wasn't the goriest or most violent movie in the world, but the story was interesting, and very engaging. It was also quite funny, but not in a cheezy way. And for a low-budget movie the acting was really good. Not for those opposed to foul language, or sexual situations. But if you like indie horror, this is worth a look.

<strong>Witches' Night (Paul Traynor, 2007)

On at least one level, <em>Witches' Night</em> is the quintessential direct-to-video horror movie. If you're looking for a flick that delivers every last horror movie trope you've seen since the mid-seventies, then look no further; you've found nirvana in a DVD case. This will give you everything you've been looking for, in much the same way you can find everything you want in a romance novel if you pick up a book by Barbara Cartland or Danielle Steel.

Of course, the icky dark side to that is that the reason people read Cartland and Steel is that they're safe, above all. Within a page of meeting any given character, you know exactly what that character's trajectory will be through the novel. When you come upon a situation, you know exactly how the repercussions from that situation will affect everything that happens after. It's not a quality one should aspire to as an author, though it's impossible to argue with the number of people who've bought the two ladies' books (wikipedia reports Steel has sold more than eight hundred million books worldwide as of 2005, Cartland's website reports her sales figures at 350 million as of 2011). It is even less a quality one should aspire to as a filmmaker, where people seem far less likely to put up with it; as I write this in mid-2011, <em>Witches' Night</em>, which has racked up just 227 votes in the four years since its release, has a pretty woeful 4.3 IMDB rating. (It is unreviewed at Rotten Tomatoes, perhaps for the better.)

Now, listen to this story, and tell me if you've heard this one before. Four guys head out into the middle of nowhere after one of them, Jim (<em>Jeepers Creepers 2</em>'s Gil McKinney), is left at the altar. The other three are his erstwhile groomsmen; his layabout brother Bill (<em>Batman Begins</em>' Jeff Christian) and their friends Rick (<em>Public Enemies</em>' Wesley Walker) and Ted (Jeff Alba in his first feature appearance; no idea if he's related to Jessica). You've got the jilted would-be husband, the [censored for Amazon consumption] brother who's an assistant manager at a chain restaurant, the bitter guy whose nicest sobriquet for any woman in this movie is [censored for Amazon consumption], and the married one who finds himself faced with temptation. Want to make any guesses on who the final girl is, who dies first, etc.? I don't need to hear your answers to know you're right. In any case, Ted decides they need to go canoeing to get their heads together, and at the local bait and tackle shop, they rent a couple of canoes from Marge (<em>The Evil Dead</em>'s Betsy Baker), half of the old married couple who run the place. She tells them a story on the way up to the dropoff point about how there's a commune of old ladies who live out there that the locals consider witches, when in reality they're just folks who want to live an alternative lifestyle (no, not THAT kind of alternative lifestyle, get your mind out of the gutter). All well and good until the boys, deep into their beers and grilling up the steaks, hear the laughter of nubile young ladies farther off in the woods. After a brief conversation in which Rick and Ted push for going to investigate while Jim and Bill resist, they head off with the cooler in search of companionship and find four lovely young things sitting around their own fire, who turn out to be Eva (<em>The Thirsting</em>'s Lauren Ryland), June (<em>Sigma Die!</em>'s Meghan Jones), Valerie (<em>Save the Last Dance</em>'s Elisabeth Oas), and Gretchen (Stephanie Cantu in her first feature appearance), each of whom latches onto one of the boys. Jim, uncomfortable and still wounded from the events at the altar, heads back to their own campsite, trailed by Bill, while the others stick around. When Ted gets back in the morning, his face is marked with an odd rash where Eva touched him. Even if you hadn't figured it out when you heard that first feminine laugh through the trees, you've got it now, right?

I'm not going to say that it's impossible to take an old dog and teach it new tricks. That happens all the time in horror movies. I'm saying Traynor (no idea if he's related to the infamous Chuck) didn't even <em>try</em>. He's made, essentially, the horror movie Danielle Steel would make if she wrote horror movies. There is nothing here that will surprise you if you're even a casual fan of the genre. There is nudity, briefly, because someone who was working on this movie thought "that's what the fans want to see". Which is exactly what they were thinking when they came up with everything else about this movie. There's not a single original thought to be found in it. It is safe, it is boring, and thus, it is not at all worth watching. ½

I saw the premiere of this movie on Friday night in the theater, on a night where there just happened to be a full moon, which added to the overall atmosphere. The story line was strong, the sound production was excellent, and being a man who enjoys a good horror film, I bought a copy of this movie after the show to add to my collection. Good production overall.