Tanz der Hexen

When an annoyingly controlling and stupid woman comes home with her husband from vacation, they discover her father (Lionel Stander) married to a somewhat disagreeable woman (Bette Davis). However, the daughter is so disagreeable and annoying, the viewer will likely tend to enjoy how miserable she is with the new step-mother. However, soon after this the old lady disappears--in the guise of sexy Barbara Carrera. What's next? Who cares?!

"Wicked Stepmother" is a truly god-awful film. Sadly, it was also Bette Davis' last film and I sure would have liked to have seen this great actress go out on a high note...not this turkey!

Whether or not the story is true that Davis walked off the set and refused to return because the script was THAT bad, I am very inclined to believe it because the film is horribly written. Part of this could be because the 'clever filmmakers' decided to use what little footage they had of Davis and then re-write the film around that in order to hide her disappearance from the script. But considering how clumsy and stupid it all is, I think they did a lousy job in hiding it!! Clearly the writers they employed were about 6 to 7 years-old!

The film itself is in many ways reminiscent of a film made for the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. After all, the script is clearly something little kids might like and adults with at least a 70 IQ would hate. Oddly, however, it's really NOT a great film for kid because there are many, many sexual references and sexual situations you wouldn't want your kids to see. Overall, a terrible film...one of the worst of Davis' otherwise wonderful career.

I should note that late in life, Davis appeared in quite a few questionable roles--roles other famous actresses probably would have refused. She claimed she needed the money...but badly enough to appear in crap like this film, "Murder With Mirrors" and "Bunny O'Hare"?! Ironically, her arch-rival, Joan Crawford, did exactly the same--appearing in tons of terrible movies late in life ("Trog" is the most egregious example).

As you probably know, Bette Davis walked off of "Wicked Stepmother" after just a week of filming, leaving writer/director Larry Cohen scrambling to rewrite his script and get the movie completed. While the end results make sense (sort of), what is really amazing is that Cohen not only managed to sell the completed movie to a major Hollywood studio, he made enough on the sale to make a profit. The movie simply isn't good, which is probably why the Hollywood studio barely released it to theaters. In her footage, Bette Davis not only looks and sounds extremely ill, she doesn't seem to give a darn about this project. The other actors come across somewhat better, but even they aren't able to generate laughs at any point in the movie. The screenplay they are stuck with simply isn't funny at all. The heavily rewritted screenplay also (perhaps inevitably) feels like Cohen is making things up as he goes along. It also doesn't help that the special effects are mostly pretty cheesy, even for an 1980s film. In short, the movie is a low point for Davis, Cohen, studio Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and everybody else involved with it.

Wicked Stepmother (1989)

* (out of 4)

Bette Davis, like so many other great actors and actresses, ended her career with a really embarrassing film. Depend on who you believe, Davis walked off the film after a week due to her not liking the screenplay, or, according to director Cohen, she was in such bad health that she had to walk off. Either way the film centers on a witch (Davis) who moves in with a family (Colleen Camp, David Rasche) and soon starts to take over the house. Her daughter (Barbara Carrera) then comes to stay and more trouble follows. The truth behind why Davis left this production will never be known but I seriously doubt the film would have turned out very good either way. Cohen, best known for various horror movies, doesn't have too much to work with his as his screenplay undoubtedly had to be rewritten with the daughter aspect added in. Some would say Davis walking off the film would ruin it all around but even the stuff she's in doesn't appear to be written overly well. We get a few campy moments because it's rather strange seeing someone like Davis doing a movie like this. She is over acting quite a lot but if she was really unhappy with the screenplay, I kept wondering if she was giving a bad performance on purpose. The comedy falls flat on its face but I must admit that there's some weird charm with the way Davis is delivering her lines. The supporting cast are all pretty bland and doesn't bring any energy to the film. Tom Bosley is pretty bad as a detective. Even with Davis walking off the film there's no excuse for all the other issues with the movie. This includes it not really knowing what it's trying to do because on one hand it tries to come off as a kids movie but then we'll have another scene, like the sex scene between the witch and the married father, which seems out of place. I find it shocking that the movie got a theatrical release because it looks like a TV movie at best and that might be an insult to TV movies. Fans of Davis might want to check this out just to see her final film but others should stay far, far away unless you're a fan of bad movies.

This film wasn't THAT bad. I actually enjoyed it! Sure replacing Bette Davis with Barbara Carrera and THEN having them share the same body was not the smartest decision ever made in Hollywood, but it sure beats Ed Wood's solution to replacing Bela Lugosi in "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Also, it does get rather silly in the scenes toward the end. But there are some very clever scenes too, like the one involving the photograph of Lionel Stander's horrible first wife. The photograph is of Bette's rival, Joan Crawford. Colleen Camp, Tom Bosley, David Rasche, Seymour Cassel, Evelyn Keyes (!), Lionel Stander and even Barbara Carrera did wonderful in their roles. And Richard Moll was very funny in his small, but memorable, role as the inspector. But the true star of this movie is Bette Davis. She is wonderfully evil in the role of Miranda. She is so good at being bad. And even though it was not her best movie, she still is wonderful to watch. I think Larry Cohen did a fine job with this, considering all the trouble it ran into. Overall, Wicked Stepmother is an okay movie.

** 1/2 out of ****

In self-defense for this fiasco, writer-director Larry Cohen pointed out that, while every one else in the last years of her life were handing Bette Davis yet another meaningless award, he offered her the thing she sought most: work. Fair enough. But as it proved when this was new, I believe time will increasingly show this employment opportunity for Bette Davis was the equivalent of offering a starving man a meal of coffee grounds and egg shells.

David died of cancer in October 1989, and the illness was plainly visible on her in her few scenes here. It is mournfully painful to watch her skeletal appearance in `Wicked Stepmother' if you loved her.

Avoid this aggressively. If you liked Davis's 'old-lady' period and want to watch a dignified 'good-bye' movie, seek the warm and bittersweet Lindsay Anderson drama, "The Whales of August" (1987) in which she co-starred with Lillian Gish. It is not only a classy farewell to those two legends, but now Ann Sothern and Vincent Price as well.