The Bottom Line
Pros
- Fast pace
- Solid acting
- Good concept
Cons
- Too restrained
- Little gore
- Cheap makeup
Description
- Starring Gil McKinney, Jeff Christian, Wesley Walker, Jeff Alba, Betsy Baker, Lauren Ryland, Meghan Jones, Elisabeth Oas
- Directed by Paul Traynor
- Not Rated
- DVD Release Date: July 8, 2008
Guide Review - 'Witches' Night' DVD Review
I wouldn't think that Halloween Eve would be a popular day to get married, but Jim had plans to do so until his fiancée left him standing at the altar. Now, his three buddies have whisked him away for a camping trip in the middle of the woods. What, was Vegas full?
They rent a couple of canoes from a lady who warns them that they're the only people in the woods, with winter fast approaching. She also mentions the legend of some old women who lived in a nearby commune 30 years ago and were rumored to be witches. Of course, they couldn't still be living out there...right?
Their first night in the woods, the guys run into four women giggling by a campfire. They don't appear to be old witches, though, and are in fact quite attractive. They seem overly inquisitive and abnormally seductive, but the fellas don't mind. After a night of debauchery, the guys begin to exhibit strange symptoms -- rashes, scars, fits of rage -- and they discover that they've become pawns in the witches' plan to open the gates of Hell on Halloween. Or something like that.
Witches' Night's has solid acting -- with good-natured camaraderie between the guys -- and a straightforward plot with an '80s horror flavor that promises some deep woods outrageousness akin to The Evil Dead (especially with the presence of that film's co-star Betsy Baker), but it never delivers. The tone is too lighthearted for serious scares and too serious for camp value, leaving it in an identity-less limbo. It's also very tame gore-wise, given the potential, and the makeup on the witches looks like cheap Halloween store costumes. Of course, some of Witches' Night's problems -- sound, makeup -- are due to its budgetary constraints, but others could be solved with an envelope-pushing rewrite.
The DVD
Special features include commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes.
Movie: C-
DVD: B
