Witchery

Year, director and cast

1988, directed by Fabrizio Laurenti, with David Hasselhoff, Leslie Cumming and Linda Blair.

Also known as

La Casa 4, Ghosthouse 2, Witchcraft, Malefiche Presenze

Review

After all that late '80s Italian trash, it's nice to stumble upon a little movie that is actually nice to watch and isn't as boring as some of the other low-budget, unoriginal tripe so that you have to stop the movie every 15 minutes because it becomes too much a burden to watch it. What helps here, is the fact that some of the actors are Americans, so there isn't any horrible dubbing present. And that there is quite some gory stuff that spices up the script. And while it's laughable to think of them as American movie stars, at that time David Hasselhoff and Linda Blair were probably the best material an Italian horror movie director could work with.

We are somewhere on an island in Boston. Leslie and her boyfriend Gary are investigating an abandoned hotel that used to be the property of a witch. When the Brooks family arrives on the island, who want to buy the hotel, it seems that the witch has returned from hell and wants to possess the child of Jane Brooks, the pregnant daughter.

While this movie never becomes scary, it flows very fluidly through its 90 minutes. There is some great gore now and then (most noteworthy the scene where an older woman gets her mouth sewn shut) and I like the idea of a parallel dimension residing next to the hotel. The acting and dialogue are tolerable (while I found it funny to see David Hasselhoff getting a candlestick in his back, he was symphatetic enough throughout the movie), except for the little brat, who seemed like a total retard. I hated him from the very first time he was on the screen and unfortunately he survives, but not before he's almost strangled. And the ending may be a bit cheesy and far-fetched, with a possessed Linda Blair (again!!).

There is nothing more to say about this movie actually. It may not be a fantastic movie with a superb plot, but it's a decent effort. With quite a low budget (and a real abandoned building), I think Laurenti did a great job and he certainly did better than with his next movie, the abysmal The Crawlers. Really, fans of horror movies should be pleased after seeing this, so I can recommend it.

Did you know...

* that this isn't Hasselhoff's only Italian movie? He also appeared in Star Crash, which was directed by Luigi Cozzi. 

Conclusion

STORY : ½

GORE : ½

ATMOSPHERE : ½

HUMOR : not important

ACTING : ½

TOTAL :

FUN MOVIE WITH ENOUGH GORE TO KEEP YOU SATISFIED.