WITCH STORY - I saw this about two years ago and seem to remember being a bit 'meh' in my reaction and review. But there's a lot to be said for second chances in my horror-viewing world, particularly when it comes to films I have no good reason to dislike in the first place - in my case, anything from late eighties Italy shot within spitting distance of Miami usually gets a free pass. This time, it helped that I'd graduated from a crappy YT rip to the Vinegar Syndrome restoration, which, besides looking lovely overall, at least gets the framing and OAR right, things that make all the difference to my slightly too uptight visual sensibilities. As for the film, well OK, swansong Italian horror done in Miami, and for a little while the excruciating acting, poodle rock soundtrack and the feeling that we're in a world less authentic than an AI reconstruction of a sun cream commercial suggest nothing other than straight ahead Fimirage territory. It's not that however, there is no Joe D'Amato lurking shiftily on the periphery, 'Witch Story' is its own weirdly gothic beast. The action unfolds in a witch's house, where a bunch of slasher fodder student types hang out and say the most ridiculous things whilst wandering around and doing the occasional impromptu post-dinner party striptease; in the minds of the makers of 'Witch Story', only outbursts of the most rank stupidity will liven up the banality of plot and setting. The rapid escalation of silliness, whether that includes show stoppers where people get naked and force each other to eat salami at knife-point, or scenes in which tractors run over little ghosts, is offset by a barrage of candlelight and backlighting that looks like it belongs to a place with turrets and long corridors. It gets pretty gory, too. Plush, shadowy and ridiculous, 'Witch Story' is entirely my kind of thing and on this second meeting I really enjoyed this very ripe piece of trash.
 |