The Witching Season

For generic, inoffensive, non-frightening Halloween boredom look no further. As individual youtube shorts these would be viewed as thoroughly bland and middle of the road, but as an anthology they're forced to carry their own water but are unable (Though Princess did have me rolling, I hope it was intentional). Even as shorts of about 14 minutes, they still stretch the skits to make something approaching feature length and it shows.

The intro credits are nice enough, and the music is a great Carpenter homage. The cinematography is uninspired and Dutch Angles seem accidental.

I liked the title and the eerie intro sequence but that was about it. This horror anthology is quite frankly uninspired "nostalgic" dribble. The stories offer nothing new, the jump scares are contrived, the acting is mediocre and the list goes on. Watch as the director throws every overused plot device in the book at you. A girl running from something evil (a common theme in this series) that has no obvious reason to exist and characters we know very little about or even care to makes this anthology nearly unwatchable. The only reason I gave this more than one star is because the cinematography is halfway decent and the score is pretty legit but if you're looking to actually be scared find another movie.

The Witching Season series certainly was low, budget, and the acting clearly was not the best, but the Halloween atmosphere and ambiance were top notch. While I'm usually more critical of these type of movies, especially in the Halloween anthology genre, I not only give The Witching Season a pass, but also an "A" for Halloween effort. Also most other offerings in the Halloween anthology genre are just so bad and I absolutely include Trick R Treat (2007) when I say that, so you can hate me now, it only fuels my Halloween spirit.

While The Witching Season series is slightly mundane and a little vanilla, it's got a dash of pumpkin spice on it that makes it palatable. Being that it is a little mild and lacks absurd amounts of gore and jump scares that many bad Halloween movies suffer from, it's almost able to be recommended as a spooky Halloween genre series that you can watch with the whole family. This actually improved the rating on my opinion. Broader audience. It's also quick. Thankfully it doesn't drag out too long. Each episode gives you a little spooky ambiance and an idea of a Halloween scare and then politely excuses itself so you don't have time to examine and belabor it's shortfalls. Additionally The Witching Season opening credits of each episode are spot on dripping with Halloween nostalgia feels.

Episode 1: Killer on the Loose: Friday the 13th (Jason Vorhees) style hockey mask, Halloween ambiance, color, lighting, Halloween Valentine rose, and a little twist surprise ending.

Episode 2: Princess: Child's Play/Poltergeist, nostalgic Halloween decor, Halloween chef cooking show, Bunnicula, and of course a little pumpkin spice twist at the end.

Episode 3: Not Alone: X-Files Maulder minus Scully, that deep seeded fear we've ALL had from the shadow of a coat and hat hanging on a rack... Or is it a psycho killer?!?!?... Nope just your imagination, right?

Episode 4: They Live Inside Us: Ok I really like this skit or episode, but unfortunately it got turned into a full length movie by the creator/director and featured the same actor(s) the full length movie of the same name is pretty terrible and boring and completely loses the abbreviated feel of the skit. I. E. This episode was great, but 'They Live Inside Us' should've remained just that and never been extrapolated out into a full length movie. I hope the director (Baliff) does not intend to do the same with the other episodes, or at least if he does he's really got to expand the ideas and character development. You cannot just take a ten minute skit idea and drag it out into a feature length film. Although he's definitely not the only one guilty of doing this (pretty much every contemporary "Hollywood" movie lately).

Anyway, "They Live Inside Us" episode: An anthology inside an anthology. Writer's block, Shadow of The Shining, still better than Stephen King. The abbreviated plot actually does a better job of explaining itself that the movie of the same name. It's a kind of a is m Romero and Juliet tragic love story and maybe a little bit comical depending on how bad you think the acting is. It's not really that bad, again mostly just low budget.

Episode 5: Is That You?: More Halloween 'Spirit Cooking,' unfortunately the debut of Count Spookula (I actually like the recurrence of these silly characters throughout The Witching Season Films production company, like the weatherman also). They also seem to weirdly cripple a kid in every movie, and that's before the Halloween violence begins. This episode stand alone was a bit of a lame duck to end on but supported by the build up of the rest it was a noble enough effort and fits well into the cadre.

There are subtle nods and hints of cheesy Halloween nostalgia and decor throughout and I love it. I like that they keep it contemporary and yet still maybe it feel nostalgic. This is just a really great movie to have on on the background during the Halloween season and you don't have worry about flipping the channel due to gore nor graphic violence no matter who comes trick or treating.

Poorly lit, poorly shot, frankly first year film student (high school) quality. Oh, and terrible color and contrast control...editing is actually pretty good in places.

Im not really into anthologies but thought I'd give it a try. The witching season took me back to the good old horror scares of the 70s. Well done, plenty of suspense and scares. I quite enjoyed it