Pacionsbo
Absolutely Fantastic
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Dana
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
loomis78-815-989034
A church owned house by a lake has had a violent and gory history. A creepy local woman (Jacquelyn Hyde) tells the family moving in there that a curse from an executed witch from 1692 hangs over the place looking for revenge. Since the witch was drowned and not burned she is believed to still be around causing mayhem in supernatural ways. This movie opens with a long segment in which two boys playing pranks get killed by having a head explode in a microwave and chopped in half at the waist respectably. All though the sequence is too long, it is effective and good gory way to start this unbalanced horror film. We are then introduced to the family moving into the house and a couple local ministers checking on the property. A cop (Salmi), straight out of a TV show, is around investigating the two boy's deaths. We're also introduced to some poor acting and some clumsy dialog, but Director James W. Roberson disguises this by injecting a supernatural saw blade that churns all the way through one of the minister's body and a hanging. Just when you've had enough of the cheesy characters and poor acting, the film shifts gears and shows us a flashback scene revealing the execution of the possessed witch (Carole Goldman) which is more than scary. The witch, her possession, and her wicked voice is quite chilling and this sequence elevates this entire movie. The movie really picks up steam as the witches spirit manifests itself into a clawed creature which begins to take out the cast in gory manner. A spike is hammered into one girl's head, The Mother (Carlin) is tossed around the kitchen like a rag doll and some definite atmosphere and suspense are generated. The ending is a little quick but sets a proper dark tone. All in all, 'Superstition' tries to disguise its flaws by delivering some solid horror imagery and scares that all drips in a decent amount of blood. If you can stick with the movie through the rough acting and pacing problems, it will deliver some nice horror along the way to keep you entertained.
George Clarke
Supestition aka The Witch is simply awesome!Simple, with one location and small cast, the word of the day is Horror, and rightly so.From the get-go, this little classic has some amazing kills, gory and crass, with enough haunting moments to garner a few chills along the way.Its 1982 for crying out loud, so lets not complain about the over dramatic performances. Just sit back and enjoy a true horror movie that really entertains.Superstition is super. Can't wait to find a digitally remastered version!
Michael_Elliott
Superstition (1982) ** (out of 4) Bizarre little film about a house on some church property, which has been the site for countless strange murders. A new Reverend (James Houghton) is helping a family move into the house but more and more bodies begin to pile up so he starts doing some research and discovers that the location is where a witch was killed nearly three-hundred years earlier and now she's back for revenge. Okay, this movie doesn't make a bit of sense and the lackluster direction doesn't help but at the same time this thing is so weird that it's hard not to recommend it to horror fans. While watching the movie you'll think that this is yet another film trying to cash in on the success of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and you'd be correct but the film also tries to mix in with the various slashers out at the time as we get some rather graphic death scenes and some gore. In terms of creepiness you're not going to find any. I'd say the main reason for this is the lackluster direction and Roberson is never able to build up any type of atmosphere and for the most part there's very little to no energy in any of the scenes. The film also doesn't seem to know what it wants to do as the screenplay is pretty much all over the place and leads to one confusing scene after another. In the end not much makes sense outside of the revenge aspect because characters are constantly showing up and disappearing without any rhyme or reason. The gore aspect of the film is an interesting thing because I'm guessing the MPAA were asleep at the wheel or just not paying attention to anything going on here because while films like Friday THE 13TH were cut to shreds by the group, this film here got away with quite a bit. We've got people getting a spike in the head, decapitations, bodies cut in half plus countless other scenes. The special effects aren't the greatest in the world but they're mildly effective. The gore level really doesn't mix with anything else in the film but it at least keeps you awake through some of the most confusing aspects. Houghton turns in a decent performance in the lead with Albert Salmi and Stacy Keach, Sr. doing fine work as well. The mixture of the story and gore doesn't work but it does make the film come off with a weird vibe and mix in the story and you've got a very strange ride. It's not a good film and God knows we've had countless good and bad witch movies but this one here is of interest due to the gore level.
backfired20
I just found this after TCM ran it, I have to say for low budget they did a great job, watching it at night i did get some goose bumps. of course its low budget, but I think it was done well and the story has lots of twist and a surprise murder, thats not done often on screen. I was pleased with the story and didn't get bored with where it was going like some older film. The only annoying thing was the constant screaming from the characters as the action happened, gets on the nerves after a bit. plus the hands of the witch look really fake. The film ended on a interesting note, not the typical horror ending which I just love. This film is worth checking out.
