Last Holiday season ’08 Jose and myself had gathered to discuss future plans for Strictly Splatter and watch some bad movies of course. We had been talking about selecting choice obscure titles for the website and I suggested the Witchcraft series. His eyes instantly lit up like Christmas decorations. It would be a challenge because all of the films were known to be crappy, some of them were only available on VHS, and did I mention the series had 13 installments! We instantly agreed and made a blood pact to bring Witchcraft to Splatter. Just kidding about the blood pact, we just nodded in agreement and excitement.

The film opens with an old fashioned witch hunt in procession. We are in the 1600s. The greedy mob drags a couple out of their bedroom in the middle of the night and take them out to the backyard to burn them at the stake for practicing witchcraft. Meanwhile in present day Massachusetts young mother, Grace Churchill is giving birth to a healthy baby boy she will name William. Her husband John arranges for them to spend a week at his mother’s old mansion so that Grace may recuperate her strength. Both the house and Elizabeth (Grace’s mother in law) are spooky. The house has several underdeveloped, unused areas that Grace is warned to stay away from. And to top it all off there’s a ghostly, grim butler who is mute.

One night, during a fierce rainstorm Grace leaves her bedroom and goes outdoors beckoned by some odd feeling. She witnesses two figures dressed in black engaged in some type of satanic animal ritual. One of them turns to Grace and it appears to be Elizabeth. Grace then wakes up, this nightmare may have been all too real for comfort. The next day her close friend Linda, a priest and some other strange people come to see the baby. When the priest, Fr. James, approaches the baby he sees a vision where the crib is on fire. This is so disturbing that he throws up in the bathroom. Here, in the bathroom mirror he has a second vision of the burning at the stake scene from the beginning of the film. Startled, he excuses himself and leaves Grace with a rosary. Later on in the film Grace is drawn to the creepy dark forbidden areas of the house even though she had been warned twice. Fr. James is reading in his office and his face is badly burned and his hands are covered in bandages. We get no explanation as to what happened to him. One could only guess that he was wounded by a malevolent aura at Elizabeth’s mansion. The next day as Grace is potting some plants outdoors Fr. James hangs himself from some fixture in the yard, he drops right before Grace’s eyes. She is getting more and more uncomfortable with the place, her distant husband and Elizabeth. Linda drops by sometimes to help her relax and feel normal. They explore the creepy mansion together. One night John tells his wife that their house burned down and they must stay here. Grace becomes upset and distraught.

While exploring the forbidden areas of the house on her own Grace sees an old portrait (from the 1600 s) of John and Elizabeth holding hands. That’s right folks, they were the witch couple burned at the stake in the beginning. Their real last name is Stocton not Churchill. Grace’s wrists then appear slashed and bleeding. She wakes up in her room with her wounds bandaged. Linda comes to see her friend the next night and they wander around the forbidden areas again. They somehow become separated. Linda finds a large chest and opens it. There is a book inside talking about the Stocton’s involvement in the occult. Suddenly, and I do mean suddenly, Linda gets her head chopped off by an unseen assailant. Grace, on the other hand wanders into a sacrificial chamber room where the Stoctons are dressed in black cloaks. They tell her they only used her to bear them a child. They tie Grace up on the altar and pour blood over her. I thought it was the child’s blood, that would have been cool but it wasn’t. It might have been animal blood. As John goes to kill Grace the butler shows up to save the day, impaling John with a metal pole. He starts to cut the ropes that are holding Grace with a knife but just as he’s done Elizabeth impales him through the head with the pole. He should have been more careful. Grace in turn, takes the knife and stabs that bitch dead. John and Elizabeth Stocton decompose and William (the baby) is unharmed.

I must admit I was very excited to start off the series. The series soon comes to be known (in the later chapters) as erotic horror with softcore porn scenes. There is none of that here, which sucked, because the movie wasn’t that great. It’s a simple, plain boring movie with not much horror to it. I would have easily gotten bored or fallen asleep if it wasn’t for the fact that I was waiting for some boobies that never came. But it’s not utterly hopeless. The mansion looked good and the acting was pretty good too but this really wasn’t in the least bit scary. I look forward to see what part two has to offer.

- Jorge Antonio Lopez