Season
of the Witch is a film that demands a certain caution
from the discerning viewer. Not only does it star Nicholas Cage
– not exactly a trademark of quality these days –
but it also has a less than original title (having been previously
used for both George Romero’s Jack’s Wife
reissue and the third Halloween film –
though with Cage in the cast, we should perhaps be grateful that
it’s not a bastardised remake of either film) and comes
with a bunch of scathing reviews in its wake. And in many ways,
this is a shoddy effort – but I did find it painlessly entertaining.
Cage plays Crusading Knight Behman who, along with best buddy
Felson quits the crusades after killing a young woman (the hundreds
of men the pair made bets about slaughtering earlier apparently
not counting for anything). The pair return home – a lengthy
trek across Europe that the seemingly complete in a few days –
where they find the city blighted by the plague and are arrested
as deserters. But dying Cardinal Christopher Lee (barely recognisable
under plague make-up in a role that hardly justifies his presence)
offers them a way out, if they agree to transport an alleged witch
(Claire Foy) across the country to a secluded monastery where
she is to be put on trial. Along the way, various mishaps befall
the group of travellers as the girl plays on their fears to pit
them against each other, and upon arrival at the monastery, it
is revealed – minor spoiler coming up – that the girl
is in fact possessed by a ridiculous looking demon who has manipulated
the group into bringing it here so that it can destroy the only
remaining copy of a book of exorcism rituals.
A few critics have pointed out the bad taste in the suggestion
that victims of mediaeval witch hunts were actually deserving
of their fate, and it certainly does seem a rather offensive notion
– though to be fair, it’s hardly the first film to
suggest that the victims of witch burners really were
witches. What’s more notable is that this revelation actually
makes the film automatically less interesting – it’s
a bad plot point, and the final twenty minutes, where the film
moves from an ‘is she / isn’t she mystery to a full-on
demonic horror film that unfortunately brings to mind Van
Helsing, is clearly meant to be a spectacular finale
but instead feels like a punch in the face from filmmakers who
are worried that their audience won’t appreciate subtlety
or ambiguity for more than an hour.
Season
of the Witch offers some nice moments of scenery, but
tends to throw away potentially interesting plot points in its
eagerness to reach the CGI-ridden action packed finale. The idea
that the girl can manipulate the men transporting her is made
much of and then scarcely followed through on, while the rag-tag
band of Knights, priests and guides are too anonymous for us to
care much about what happens to them. Cage and Perlman exchange
decidedly modern one-liners and we get a classically clichéd
‘rickety old bridge that could collapse at any moment’
scene – far too much of a cinematic cliché to really
hold any tension. There’s also a strangely ineffective action
set piece where the party is attacked by wolves that – bizarrely
– seem to transform into nastier looking wolves (or werewolves)
through some supernatural hocus pocus - the prospect of being
torn apart by a pack of regular wolves apparently not considered
scary enough.
The performances are solid enough – Cage is better here
than in most of his recent films – though predictably accents
are all over the place, and the film does at least move at a decent
pace, clocking in at a reasonable 85 minutes, ensuring that you
won’t be bored, even if the story doesn’t exactly
engage you. But while this is a fairly harmless timewaster, you
do expect the Monty Python team to pop up during some of the scenes
of mediaeval filth and superstition to debate the feudal system
and ask if the witches weigh the same as a duck. And then to burn
both at the stake.
Season
of the Witch is a film that demands a certain caution
from the discerning viewer. Not only does it star Nicholas Cage
– not exactly a trademark of quality these days –
but it also has a less than original title (having been previously
used for both George Romero’s Jack’s Wife
reissue and the third Halloween film –
though with Cage in the cast, we should perhaps be grateful that
it’s not a bastardised remake of either film) and comes
with a bunch of scathing reviews in its wake. And in many ways,
this is a shoddy effort – but I did find it painlessly entertaining.
Season
of the Witch offers some nice moments of scenery, but
tends to throw away potentially interesting plot points in its
eagerness to reach the CGI-ridden action packed finale. The idea
that the girl can manipulate the men transporting her is made
much of and then scarcely followed through on, while the rag-tag
band of Knights, priests and guides are too anonymous for us to
care much about what happens to them. Cage and Perlman exchange
decidedly modern one-liners and we get a classically clichéd
‘rickety old bridge that could collapse at any moment’
scene – far too much of a cinematic cliché to really
hold any tension. There’s also a strangely ineffective action
set piece where the party is attacked by wolves that – bizarrely
– seem to transform into nastier looking wolves (or werewolves)
through some supernatural hocus pocus - the prospect of being
torn apart by a pack of regular wolves apparently not considered
scary enough.
• 
• 