Witchcraft (1991)

A Disappointing Continuation

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A likable cast and and decent location photography make this low budget horror film watchable. Jenilee Harrison (Suzanne Somers' replacement, Cindy, on "Three's Company") plays a 1950s great white huntress in Africa who interrupts a sacred tribal ceremony, so the tribe unleashes a demon-like creature to torment her. To add a bit of gravitas to the low budget cheese-fest is the great Christoper Lee, still in his career slump before Peter Jackson sparked a late career revival for Lee with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I also noticed in the credits Gavin Hood as a supporting actor, who's now better know as the director of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "Enders Game" and other big Hollywood projects. This film's director never directed another film, but he didn't do a bad job. He was actually the editor on some pretty cool movies including "Quadrophenia" and "Return of the Jedi." Overall, this is nothing to go our of your way to watch, but it did have a scrappy, entertaining Charles Band/Full Moon Features kind of vibe that was enough to hold my interest.

In Africa, an English Sugar Cane Plantation owner's pregnant American wife is cursed for her sister's stopping the tribal sacrifice of a goat. Christopher Lee, given obvious star treatment and always a welcome presence as far as this horror fan is concerned, is a raspy-voiced doctor with asthma, Dr. Pearson, who also has ties to the witchdoctor, and attends to the medical needs of his neighboring locals.The ceremony interrupted, the blood sacrifice removed, a summoned monster from the sea might just wreak havoc on them all.I think what works best for a film such as this is the knowledge of possible peril in store for those out of their own environment, with danger lying in wait throughout the African landscape where a killer could appear at any moment. Carefully presented is the culture clash between the outsiders and the Africans. Lee's supporting role is interesting in that he's a wedge between these very different worlds, having garnered relationships with both sides, understanding the customs and beliefs of the tribe with clarity. We actually see him drive into the tribal village to chat with the witchdoctor, developing a mystery as to his intentions. His ambiguous motives do call into question whose side he's on. I thought this film has some good suspense because the plot really builds on the fact that the innocents are outnumbered, in a place home to those that threaten them. The film also introduces English neighbors(..a widower and her granddaughter)who provide shelter to Liz when she needs it the most. Many might find this sort of film a bit racist, I guess, in today's politically correct world.I think the most intense scenes occur when characters find themselves moving through the endless wave of sugar cane fields, the perfect place for a killer to lie in wait. My favorite has this great sense of upending doom as a more and more frightened Elizabeth(Jenilee Harrison) walks through her house delicately searching for her husband, Geoff(Andre Jacobs) who had arrived from a near-death experience, in a state of panic, who is not answering her calls. The crescendo to this really packs a wallop because Elizabeth finds herself in a very difficult scenario with limited options of survival. Poor Liz, did nothing wrong to deserve such rotten circumstances. While the machete makes it's grand appearance throughout(..accompanied by the "whoosh!" sound as it does damage off-screen), there isn't a lot of gore on display. The score really pounds away, effective I think at eating away at the viewer(..or perhaps annoying the hell out of you, which ever you prefer)as a suspense scene culminates. This film would probably be taken more seriously if it weren't part of what many consider a lackluster franchise of unrelated films. At any rate, Curse III:Blood Sacrifice wasn't as bad as I was expecting, in actuality, I kind of enjoyed it.Lee fans, have no fear, even though he doesn't have a large part, he does provide that great monologue as to his history and relationship with the witchdoctor(..always giggling as he looks on from within the deep sugar cane fields).

A group of westerners disrupt a religious ceremony involving a goat that is about to be sacrifice. In doing so it makes the voodoo priest very angry, so he summons a demon to take revenge on those people.This was one very peculiar b-grade film with voodoo/slasher/monster elements, but with those features it's still basically a poor run-of-a mill horror film, that takes itself far to seriously. I haven't watched the first two films, so I don't know if this film relates back to the others.There's not much to recommend- but the saving grace of the film is Christopher Lee, in which he brings some added class. Also the beautifully lush and exquisite African setting / atmosphere makes it a bit bearable.While whenever Lee graced the screen it added some interest- but I can't say the same about the rest of the cast. It was to bad that the main female lead was annoying and stupid, that you wished that the demon would just finish the job. And the bloody demon seems to takes it's sweet time to finish off its victims by dragging out the scenes (especially towards the end). While Christopher Lee and Jenilee Harrison characters had 'SOME' depth, the rest of the supporting cast were too one-dimensional and lack any detail of any sort, by being pretty much stereotypical and waiting for their turn on the chopping block.The special effects were inferior. The demon looked like a stupid rubber lizard from a Godzilla film, while carrying a machete in it's hand just looked bizarre. The movie had some blood and a tad of gore, but still it's minor stuff.The story was very odd one, but it didn't stop it from being quite tiresome in parts and cliché ridden. Really, the characters just got on my nerves… especially the heroine and the dumb little girl (you would know what I mean when you see it). Like I typed early there is a mixture of horror elements: the first half of the film feels like a slasher, as we are to think that somebody from the group is possibly the killer, with red herrings thrown in and we don't see nothing but machete doing the damage. While the second half (the part that lost my interest and boredom followed) plays the heroine being stalked by an unknown creature and she is frantically looking for help. In which case we actually see the menace and I found it incredibly bad and laughable. While, the voodoo element gels the other two together.1.5/5

Who knows why I went to the trouble of hunting down this 1990 B flick, but expecting nothing, I settled in for a less than ordinary "thriller" about African voodoo, gratuitous nudity, and electrical storms. Watching this movie is all about letting yourself go for 90 some-odd minutes and appreciating that someone took the time to construct an offbeat little thriller that takes itself way too seriously, and almost pulls it off. Completely devoid of the tongue-in-cheek humor that the Scream movies and Psycho Beach Party laid on us, Curse 3 painstakingly takes us through a couple of days of hell for the inhabitants of a 1950's African village. It's truly a horror relic of the pre-Dewey days. (I'm talking David Arquette, not the president!). Jenilee Harrison acquits herself nicely (I'm surprised she hasn't had more of a chance to stake her claim in Hollywood) and Christopher Lee chews the scenery like he's auditioning for Hamlet. All in all, odd enough to be a fairly interesting little diversion. 2-and-a-half (out of 5) on the Corkymeter.