There are certain movies that I thought, for one reason or another, I was never meant to see. For example, I had spent a lot of time looking for a movie called: The Fear 2: Halloween Night. Never heard of it? Not many have, and for years I went looking for this movie at my local Blockbuster and saw that the case was there, but the movie was always out. There were two possibilities: either this movie was so good (or bad) it kept getting rented out, or someone had rented it and never brought it back. I eventually found out that the latter was the case. I think the same could be said for Full Moon Features' 1999 film Witchouse. As a high school kid with nothing much more to do than rent movies on a Friday night, I loved the cover of this movie, I mean look at it, a giant witch eating a hot blonde! But alas, the cover was always there, taunting me, but not once did I get a chance to view this sure to be classic film. Over the years, I had seen trailers and thought the movie looked wicked cool, but could never seem to get my hands on it. The problem mainly being that I had forgotten what the movie was actually called. I watched, Witchboard, Withcraft, Witchboard 2, Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost; none of them were what I later found out was actually called Witchouse! However, thanks to the digital age I was able to find Fullmoonstreaming.com for most of my B-movie needs and low and behold Witchouse was recently added, so I took the time to sit in the Mann Cave and finally see what horrors lie in the house of witch.
The story revolves around a college party at a strange mansion in the middle of nowhere, hosted by local Goth queen Elizabeth. Liz is has gathered her friends to resurrect a distant relative, Lilith, who was an evil witch that was burned at the stake in "olden times." Her friends are being used as sacrifice and have more of a connection to Lilith's past than they realize. One by one, the party is knocked off or turned into these demon things who do the bidding of Lilith. I wasn't sure why some of the patrons were being killed and why some were being changed into demons, until someone pointed out that it seemed like having sex was the difference. I guess I'll have to go back and take a look. There are your typical horror movie stock characters: the jock, the cheerleader, the stoner, the geek, the tough girl and the pure of heart hero and heroine (who of course, stay virgins and survive). Much killing, demonic possession and all kinds of other fun ensue. There is even a tune by Quiet Riot. Heavy Metal and B-horror movies, it's a match made in heaven for me! How could you go wrong?
I wasn't expecting much from Witchouse other than a good time and that's what I got. Nothing is particularly memorable other than the scenes in which hell is portrayed with some fast moving blurry faces that were kind of spooky. Most of the effects were pretty cheesy even by 1999 direct to video standards and the plot was silly at times. For example, I found it a little odd that Elizabeth would allow the only person that can stop Lilith to the party in the first place, you think she would've researched that. Lilith presentation was inconsistent, one minute she can shoot lightning out of her hands, next she gets rocked by a punch and no, she never turned into a giant and ate a blonde. What I liked about this movie was that it never got boring, there was always something happening and at a concise 72 minutes, Witchouse doesn't exactly have anytime to waste. Like I said, the flashes of hell were really cool and I found myself really enjoying the prosthetics on Lilith and her minions. I miss that old style of make up in movies. Plus, the location was fantastic as the haunted house looked really good. One thing about most of Full Moon's movies is that they usually pick some really cool locales and keep things in one spot. The film really reminded me of 80's cult classic Night of the Demons, so much that I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere some distribution company has put this out as: Night of the Demons 4. The problem with that was at times, I wished I watching Night of the Demons.
So did Witchouse live up to the 15 plus year hype of wanting to see it? Well, considering it wouldn't have taken much for me to get my hands on this movie, how hyped could I have been? So yes! For those who are looking for a decent B-movie check it out, other than that I'd pass by the witch's house and watch Night of the Demons, it does this better. Oh and by the way, I did finally see The Fear 2 and it was way worse than this movie.
Worst Scene: Lilith being KO'd by a punch
Grade: 6/10
Viewed on: Full Moon Streaming
"Witchouse" by Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the VHS or DVD Cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless.. Licensed under Fair use of copyrighted material in the context of Witchouse via Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Witchouse.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Witchouse.jpg
Nothing like building the anticipation, Nick! I find there aren't that many movies that can stand the test of time. Especially with the improvements in special effects, even for movies on a cheaper budget. Sometimes I'm a little shocked at the writing inconsistencies - I know two guys who can writer way better than that! Why aren't their scripts made into movies?
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