WITCHCRAFT (1988) Blu-ray
Director: Fabrizio Laurenti
88 Films

Linda Blair and The Hoff dabble in WITCHCRAFT with 88 Films' special edition Blu-ray.

Two groups of people converge on a deserted old hotel on a lonely New England island. The first is the family of greedy Rose (Annie Ross, BASKET CASE II) and lecherous Freddie Brooks (Bob Champagne, GHOSTHOUSE) who have bought the hotel in hopes of turning it into an exclusive club. They are accompanied by their pregnant unwed daughter Jane (Blair) and younger son Tommy (Michael Manchester), as well as lusty architect Linda (Catherine Hickland, GHOST TOWN) and horny estate agent Jerry (Rick Farnsworth). The second group consists of virginal, mealy-mouthed university student Leslie (Leslie Cumming, KILLER BIRDS) and her blue-balled boyfriend Gary (Hasselhoff) who are there to study and photograph the phenomenon of the "witch's light" which appears without any scientific cause on the island every day at noon (which Leslie thinks is related to a German text about an island in the new world where witch burnings took place and a pregnant woman committed suicide rather than be executed as a witch). When the Brooks' hired boat takes off, the group is stranded on the island as the waves become treacherous. No one believes little Tommy's story about meeting a Lady in Black (Hildegard Knef, FEDORA) – who might be the spirit of the Norma Desmond-esque German actress who shot a film at the hotel and never left – but soon she and her unholy minions are picking off the stranded guests one-by-one according to their sin in order to open up the gates of hell.

One of the more widely-distributed Filmirage productions from veteran exploitation auteur Joe D'Amato aka Aristide Massaccesi, WITCHCRAFT became LA CASA 4 theatrically in Italy – as a sequel to Umberto Lenzi's GHOSTHOUSE which was release there as LA CASA 3 as a "sequel" to Sam Raimi's two EVIL DEAD films (Steve Miner's HOUSE was released there as CHI È SEPOLTO IN QUELLA CASA? and its sequel even more confusingly as LA CASA DI HELEN) – and was exported as WITCHCRAFT (EVIL ENCOUNTER), but the film is more commonly known to American audiences under the video retitling WITCHERY to distinguish it from the American direct-to-video WITCHCRAFT made the same year that spawned a thirteen-entry series. While GHOSTHOUSE was a cluttered series of paranormal setpieces, WITCHERY highlights a handful of death scenes that are more unpleasant in concept than in execution (with hit-and-miss make-up effects by DAWN OF THE MUMMY's Maurizio Trani) and a cluttered backstory of witch burnings, Satanic rape, and a nutty actress may be somehow possessed and looking for a new body (or something). Despite the scripted dialogue, performances are more naturalistic (although not always good) and undubbed, with Knef coming off best despite her heavy accent. While the film – written by Daniele Stroppa (THE WAX MASK) and directed by first timer Fabrizio Laurenti, who was married to actress Mary Sellers from GHOSTHOUSE and would later helm CONTAMINATION .7 (released here as CRAWLERS and in the UK as CREEPERS) for D'Amato – is not as "fun" as GHOSTHOUSE, it is certainly more vicious. The climax and freeze-frame surprise ending are wonderfully laughable because of its predictability and Cumming's performance (along with the end title vocal which is heard earlier in a more vintage version during the haunted projector sequence). Carlo Maria Cordio's score (which is available in MP3 as part of a library compilation release with his cues for THE BITE and AMOK TRAIN) was reused for LA CASA 5 (released here as BEYOND DARKNESS).

Although Vidmark's American tape of WITCHERY advertised itself as uncut, it missing the entire opening title sequence, with the video generated credits for the title, Hasselhoff, Blair, and Anglicized director Martin Newlin appearing on the first shot after the original director's credit and, inexplicably, bloodshed from one of the film's least graphic deaths. When the film was released in the U.K., it also had to be retitled to avoid confusion with RCA/Columbia's tape of PANGA retitled WITCHCRAFT (it was released here as CURSE III: BLOOD SACRIFICE), coming out on tape as GHOSTHOUSE 2. The film first became available on DVD in the UK under the WITCHCRAFT (EVIL ENCOUNTERS), in superior quality to the tape releases but it suffered cuts to the Satanic rape scene (the DVD slows down the image so as not to cut the soundtrack). When Shriek Show released the film on DVD in the United States, it was in an uncut anamorphic transfer but the 1.78:1 matting bisected the "presents" on the opening credits suggesting it was meant for more vertically spacious framing (probably dismissing American 1.85:1 theatrical projection altogether since it was video-bound). Scream Factory released the first Blu-ray edition – a double feature with GHOSTHOUSE – featuring a 1.66:1 widescreen transfer that was a minor leap forward from DVD, still softish with little grain, highlighting the rubbery effects and the only occasionally creative but flattish photography of Gianlorenzo Battaglia (DEMONS). The same master has been used for 88 Films' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.66:1 widescreen Blu-ray and it does indeed look pretty much the same, and the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track also sounds similar. Both versions include optional English subtitles.

While Scream Factory's Blu-ray double feature only included trailers for both films as extras, 88 Films goes all out in terms of extras. In “Lighting Witchcraft” (18:40), cinematographer Battaglia recalls first his first meeting with D'Amato while working as a gaffer at Elios Studios, confirms that several of the Filmirage had an American partner in Eduard Sarlui, formerly of Trans World and then of Epic Productions (whose acquisition of some Filmirage titles for home video distribution is how they eventually ended up in the MGM library), also shooting Filmirage's METAMORPHOSIS with actor George Eastman (ABSURD) in the director's chair, and compares Hasselhoff's long death scene to that of Peter Sellers' extra in the opening sequence of Blake Edwards' THE PARTY. In “The Music of Witches” (13:23), composer Cordio recalls an early horror scoring assignment in which he tweaked the Italian score and completely redid the export version. He misremembers the star as Daria Nicolodi but he may be referring to Riccardo Freda's MURDER OBSESSION (starring Ruggero Deodato's then-wife Silvia Dionisio) which features an entirely different, largely electronic score for the English version in contrast to the classical piano scoring of the Italian version. He notes that while D'Amato was precise about scoring choices, Laurenti's descriptions of what he wanted were more about atmosphere and vibe.

In “The Witch’s Mirage” (16:47), filmmaker Luigi Cozzi recalls doing some writing for D'Amato on earlier films including the BLUE LAGOON cash-in PARADISO BLU in Santo Domingo, as well as rewriting ORGASMO NERO and the possibility of a big budget sci-fi film sponsored by the owner of the local Sheraton Hotel who put cash in some of D'Amato's other films of the period. He was asked to direct WITCHCRAFT and accepted since PAGANINI HORROR was postponed but turned it down eventually because the executive producer (Achille Manzotti or Sarlui?) would not allow him to make changes since he had a computer graph story structure of peaks and valleys for which he wanted the script to adhere. In “Mirages and Witchcrafts” (55:41), director Laurenti recalls his days in New York during the eighties as an artist where he met actress Mary Sellers (GHOSTHOUSE) who starred in his short vampire film THE IMMIGRANT. When he returned to Italy with Sellers, she found work right away with Filmirage but it took his short film being picked up for television and winning an award for him to be taken on by D'Amato for WITCHCRAFT. While Cozzi was not able to make changes, Laurenti evidently was, and recalls being tested by D'Amato with regards to Hasselhoff's insistence that his character not die. While Laurenti wanted to solve the issue in the editing room, D'Amato insisted he convince Hasselhoff so he sold him on the idea of a heroic self-sacrifice. He also recalls difficulties with Blair and Knef.

In “The Sound of Witchcraft” (14:57), sound technician Piero Parisi (BLACK DEMONS) recalls working for D'Amato on a handful of projects, Italian sound studio technicians being surprised at the quality of the location recordings (believing them to be the work of a Hollywood technician), Cummings' diction problems, Hasselhoff's ego, and Hickland not wanting to kiss a gay actor. “Return to Witchcraft: Before and After” (3:05) is a locations then and now filmed by director Fabrizio Laurenti which includes both contemporary footage and film clips as well as some video from the original location scouting with an unidentified party blocking out some stage directions for the camera. The most interesting extra is the short film “The Immigrant” (37:39) about a vampire (Sellers) who stalks the denizens of New York's East Side – including some Greenwich Village scenes (a backdrop also used for Larry Fessenden's indie vampire film HABIT) – and getting hooked on heroin by attacking junkies, soon becoming no more distinguishable from them. In the introduction, Laurenti reveals that he showed this film rather than WITCHCRAFT to Pupi and Antonio Avati which landed him the job directing THE ROOM NEXT DOOR (a film overdue for release on Blu-ray, let alone DVD). The disc also includes the WITCHCRAFT's theatrical trailer (3:00). The standard edition comes with a reversible cover while the first pressing includes a limited edition "Soft-Touch" O-Card slipcover and an 11-page collector’s booklet featuring behind the scene stills and an essay by Andrew Graves. (Eric Cotenas)

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