Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood (2000, directed by Ron Ford)

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Warlock-turned attorney-turned-police consultant Will Spanner is back for the 11th Witchcraft film. This time he’s played by James Servais. Working again with Lutz (Stephanie Beaton) and Garner (Mikul Robins) of the LAPD, Will is investigating yet another attempt to perform a ceremony that will bring Satan back to Earth. Why is every Satanic ceremony so elaborate that it always gives Will, Lutz, and Garner time to investigate and disrupt it? That seems short-sighted on Satan’s part.

This time, the head Satanist is a drama professor who is putting on a production of MacBeth and who convinces the three actresses playing the witches to really get into their roles by performing a “fake” magic ritual. Unfortunately, the ritual is real and the actresses are possessed by the spirits of three actual witches. Because they have to find a stone that will help to bring a demon into the world who will then bring Satan into the world as well (See what I mean about foolishly complex rituals?), the three actresses are soon going on a sex-fueled murder rampage across campus. One of the possessed actresses is also the sister of Will’s long-suffering girlfriend and now-fiancée, Kelly (Wendy Blair). That makes it even more important than usual that Will prevent Satan from coming into the world.

As easy as it is to make fun of the Witchcraft films for their grade-Z production values and the often less than impressive performances of the actors involved, it’s hard not to appreciate their loyalty to the idea behind the entire franchise. With only a few exceptions, every film has dealt with Will coming to terms with being a warlock. Even though the actors change frequently, just the fact that nearly every Witchcraft installment features the same characters does a lot to distinguish Witchcraft from other direct- to-video horror franchises. Will and Kelly finally getting engaged would probably be more meaningful if they had been consistently been played the same actors over the last several films (and if Witchcraft XI spelled Kelli’s name correctly) but it still rewarded the viewers who had stuck with the franchise up to its eleventh installment. (Unfortunately, this movie would also be Kelly’s final appearance in the series. The character is never mentioned in any of the films following this one.)

Otherwise, Witchcraft XI features some of the worst acting in the series up to this point and the plot is incoherent even by Witchcraft standards. Supposedly, this was one of the most financially successful of all the Witchcraft movies, probably because of three possessed and often topless co-eds. Will Spanner would return, though unfortunately without Lutz, Garner, or Kelly, in Witchcraft XII.

Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft (1998, directed by Elisar Elisar Cabrera)

Posted on October 19, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

In the tenth entry in the ludicrously long-running Witchcraft series, conflicted warlock Will Spanner does not appear. Fortunately, it’s not because he’s dead again. Instead, it’s just because Will lives in New York and Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft takes place in London.

Instead, Witchcraft X focuses on Detective Lucy Lutz (Stephanie Beaton, returning to the role after playing it in the previous film). Focusing on Detective Lutz actually makes sense, just because Stephanie Beaton was one of the better actresses to regularly appear in direct-to-video horror movies and she was also probably the main reason why many people were watching the Witchcraft films to begin with. It certainly wasn’t for the special effects or the plots.

In this film, Detective Lutz has been summoned to London because a cult leader named Hyde (Kerry Knowlton) has been arrested by Interpol. Hyde is wanted for a series of murders in Los Angeles and the London police cannot wait to send him back to the United States where he’ll be executed for sure. (Jokes on them. California has one of the slowest death rows in the country.) But before Hyde can be sent back to L.A., they need to fly Lutz over so she can brief them on Hyde’s crimes. I guess email was still a luxury in 1998.

No sooner has Lutz arrived than a vampire named Raven (Eileen Daly) is breaking Hyde out of custody so that Hyde can help her conduct one of those occult ceremonies that every single Witchcraft film seems to revolve around. Raven has an army of frequently naked female vampires to help her out. Lutz only has Interpol agent Chris Dixon (Sean Harry) and paranormal expert Celeste (Wendy Cooper) to help her out.

I liked that this movie tried to do something different with the franchise without totally abandoning the characters. Even though neither Will nor Garner appears in Witchcraft X, they’re mentioned by Lutz so it’s not like Witchcraft VIII where Will’s existence was totally ignored. Detective Lutz is a good heroine and Stephanie Beaton is an appealing actress. I also liked that the film took place in London and that, like Witchcraft VII, it involved vampires instead of the usual shady warlocks. The dialogue is really clunky, none of the other actors are as good as Beaton, and the film looks like it was shot with a camcorder and then edited by someone using a VCR but that’s pretty much par for course for a Witchcraft film.

It’s easy to imagine the Witchcraft series going forward with just Detective Lutz as the lead character. That didn’t happen, though. Will Spanner would return for Witchcraft XI.

Witchcraft IX: Bitter Harvest (1997, directed Michael Paul Girard)

Posted on October 18, 2020 by Jedadiah Leland

Will Spanner (played, for a second time, by David Byrnes) returns in Witchcraft IX!

Will is still the son of a warlock, he’s still dead, and his girlfriend is still named Kelli (she’s played, this time, by Leah Kourtne Ballantine) but otherwise, the continuity of the entire franchise gets seriously twisted in Witchcraft IX. Witchcraft VII ended up with Will dead and everyone knowing that Will was dead. This was followed by Witchcraft VIII, which was a stand-alone film about a different warlock. Witchcraft IX then begins with no one knowing that Will is dead and an imposter Will living with Kelli and regularly choking her during sex. Will’s ghost roams the city, trying to get anyone to listen to him. Though Will was clean-shaven when he died, ghost Will has a beard.

While Will is trying to find someone who can hear him, Detective Lutz (Stephanie Beaton) and Garner (Mikul Robins) are investigating yet another series of ritualistic homicides. This time, the homicides are connected to an Egyptian cult as opposed to a Satanic one. Usually, Lutz and Garner would turn to Will for help but, because imposter Will is a jerk, they don’t want anything more to do with him. Of course, in Witchcraft VII, Lutz and Garner saw Will die but apparently, they’ve forgotten about that and think that he’s still alive. See how confusing this is?

Will finally does find someone who can hear his voice. She’s a prostitute named Sheila (Landon Hall) and soon, Will is using her to deliver messages to Lutz, Garner, and Kelli. He even enters her body at one point. Witchcraft IX is basically a softcore version of Ghost, with an Egyptian cult thrown in for good measure.

Whatever other flaws they may have had, the previous Witchcraft films all did try to maintain a recognizable continuity. That’s what made them stand out when compared to other direct-to-video franchises. Even though the actors changed, Will always remained the same character with the same problems. In Witchcraft IX, all of that continuity gets tossed out the window. The one emotionally effective moment of the entire franchise, Will dying and being mourned by everyone who cared for him, is retconned into nothing.

Witchcraft IX suffers from its low budget and its impossible to follow plot but Landon Hall and Stephanie Beaton are surprisingly good as Sheila and Lutz and David Byrnes is a passable hero. Though Will does come back to life at the end of this one, he would still be absent in the next film. In Witchcraft X, Detective Lutz would finally get a story all of her own.