Witchouse 3: Demon Fire

Aside the boobfest, this is a Witchcraft-movie.

Has nothing to do with the previous Witchouse films aside the namedrop for the demon/witch, from which it's still the best, because it has a script that went through the basic checkings, and simply fits the tone and quality of the Witchcraft-movies, however low standard that means. There is a reason why that franchise reached 12 installments. I don't know what that reason is, but this definitely catched the same wibes.

Shot on video feature. OK acting. OK script. Alright camera work. So-so directing. Not horrible by any means. Nothing note worthy either. Blah. I always enjoy seeing Brinke Stevens, but her horror make up sucked. If they had a bigger budget there might be something there, they didn't use whatever budget they had in a creative enough way or maybe they should make fewer of these movies (Full Moon/Tempe) and put 3 of the movies budgets together and make one good one. Just a thought.

Three mates.. two trainee witches and the other one the victim of an abusive boyfriend, hold a séance late at night. But they get more than they bargained for..

Obvious low-budget shocker with nothing to recommend it. Very confused screenplay that fails to reach a conclusive ending, and some of the lamest killings on record. Takes a very long time to get anywhere, and believe me.. it ain't worth it. A five second shower scene and Brinke Stevens in a Halloween costume are about the only interesting parts. And this is the third in the series? Gee, I can hardly imagine how much fun the others are.. 2/10

Three attractive drunken girlfriends perform a magical ritual and inadvertently summon Lilith, a female witch played by scream queen Brinke Stevens. A Charles Band Full Moon production on the Film 2000 video label is not usually a good omen, so I certainly didn't have high hopes for Demon Fire. The film obviously is low budget, the plot flimsy and the acting is on the wooden side. However it wasn't actually too bad. Good use is made of it's Californian coastal location, the film has a modest running time so it doesn't drag and although there is very little in the way of gore we do have a gratuitous topless shower scene. Ignore these ridiculous 8+/10 scores, 4/10 from me.

OK: I haven't seen 1 or 2, so diving straight in with Witchouse 3 maybe isn't the best approach.

The downside:

The plot doesn't make a lot of sense - it isn't REALLY horror, or suspense

* Brinke Stevens has nothing to do apart from trying to look menacing * Debbie Rochon's character is far too "guarded", you don't really get under her skin and find out what she's about until very late in the film, making most of her appearance seem a bit wooden * Tanya Dempsey's character is not well defined, so again the acting seems lacklustre * Paul Darrigo's character is also poorly defined

So as such, I honestly can't recommend the film at all, except that I feel honour bound to say that Tina Krause demonstrates moments of genuinely good acting abilities, (given the character she has to portray), and what she really lacks most is some decent direction.

(No, I'm not a long standing fan of Krause, in fact I'd never heard of her before watching this film).

I'd honestly like to see her work on a major budget horror film, with someone like Stephen King, to see the extent of her acting ability.

You probably won't suffer by avoiding this film, but watch out for Ms Krause in case she makes the move into big league films!