Witches' Brew

The only reasons I watched "Witches' Brew" is that it is Lana Turner's last film and it was free to watch on YouTube. It turned out to be a strange but watchable movie...but a really weird film for Turner (who is 59, though she appears to be about 70).

A group of women have a strange 'hobby'. They've been practicing witchcraft in order to help their husbands' careers at the nearby university. One of them learns about this and it's not surprising that Professor Lightman (Richard Benjamin) is upset at his wife's behaviors...especially since he's a psychology professor. So, his wife (Teri Garr) wants to teach him a lesson and she removes all her charms on him...and soon his life starts falling apart. But the problem is MUCH worse than either anticipate, as the leader of this coven (Turner) is intent on doing something very evil. What? Watch the film.

This is a decent time-passer, though I wish they'd either chosen to make it much more serious or more of a comedy. Instead, it's a bit of both and could have been better. The ending is also really, really cheesy. Still, it's a one of a kind sort of movie and if you're looking for something different, it is very, very different.

I stumbled across this movie on cable and watched for a while, thinking with Benjamin and Garr it wouldn't be a complete waste of time. Wrong! To compound the disappointment of wooden performances, I eventually realized the plot was lifted right out of Fritz Leiber's "Conjure Wife" -- a wonderful horror tale set in academia. If you go for horror and/or "weird tales", find the book (and read Leiber's "Our Lady of Darkness" while you're at it -- it's better). But forget this movie. Closest video approximation to the tone of Leiber's work is the Night Gallery episode, "The Dead Man". A student of Lovecraft, Leiber is one of the true greats in weird fiction.

Silliness about a group of faculty wives using witchcraft to advance their husbands careers. Picks up and drops ideas willy-nilly although it isn't completely without an ultimate goal. But the picture becomes increasingly ridiculous as it progresses.

Odd to see gifted comedienne Teri Garr in such as this, although it is played initially with a light touch. She's not bad but it doesn't play to her strengths, she was however still working her way up so probably taking whatever was offered. She's also a peculiar match with Richard Benjamin, who spends what seems an inordinate part of the movie in various states of undress, their styles don't mesh very well.

This was Lana Turner's cinematic screen swan song. While its not the horrifying train wreck that some Golden Age stars, Joan Crawford, Veronica Lake etc., were subjected to it's hardly the sort of film a legendary star should be exiting the stage in. She does look glamorous throughout until script dictates strip her of her trappings, an oasis of pizazz in a sea of slack suits.

Worth catching for the two lead actresses if you're a fan of either but strictly a mediocrity.

My review was written in January 1985 after watching the film on Showtime.

"Witches' Brew", a/k/a "Which Witch is Which?" is a comedy about witchcraft filmed in 1978, revamped years later by film doctor Herbert L. Strock and finally surfacing on pay-cable after having been shelved for theatrical release and subjected to litigation. Review here is for the record.

An impressive toplined cast is trapped in this amateurish production, revolving around the sitcom premise (in the vein of the "Bewitched" tv series) of housewife Margaret (Teri Garr) helping her college psychology prof hubby Joshua (Richard Benjamin) get ahead via witchcraft. His luck changes for the worse when she lifts all her benevolent spells, after Joshua marks her aid.

Key point of historical interest is that "Brew" relies upon exactly the same premise employed years later in Carl Reiner's Steve Martin hit "All of Me": wicked witch Vivian (Lana Turner) is ailing, but contrives to shift her soul into pupil Margaret's body having willed her fortune to "Margaret". Even the differing mirror image gimmick is trotted out here.

Garr and Benjamin make a comfortable team, but entire cast is hurt by poor sound recording, unfunny dialog ("Bat jowls" is frequently repeated for supposed sure-fire laughs) and terrible continuity.

WITCHES BREW was hyped in the early 80's by the same horror fanzines that hyped SATURDAY THE 14th. OK, so I can't help it. This is a pretty lame flick.

And Teri Garr is in it. Granted, she is all right in small doses. Overbearing, yes. Annoying, yes. But she was good in last year's DICK. I can't really pick on her too much (Dave Letterman takes care of that for me).

This film has a few effects around the silly housewife hijinks, and those said effects are of the Q variety. At least the gargoyle's supposed to be made of clay.

Still, I haven't seen this picture in years, mostly by choice. It is an unmemorable, and thoroughly draining, viewing experience.