Witchmaster General

This flick really is lots of fun. Sure, it's a micro-budget film, but the dialog is all kinds of clever and the story really does have some jolts in it. Wisely, director Jim Haggerty never tries to do more than he has the means to film, so you don't see cheap and tacky special effects. It all works.

The movie stars Phil Lewis of the band LA Guns who clearly has been hiding some acting skills. Across the board the acting is very good and the women - most of whom get naked - are hot.

If you like your horror with a nice dash of humor, this is a film for you.

... is what I would say if I was talking about a completely different film.

This one is a complete dud. It doesn't take a genius to notice that all of the initial reviews of this film rated it with 8 stars when it scores less than 3 with very few votes. Could these reviews possibly be biased by participants in the film? I'll let you decide for yourself.

However, from watching the movie I will give you a quick rundown of exactly what I found. You'll see other reviews commenting on how there is "plenty of full frontal female nudity from extremely attractive women." I beg to differ. There is one attractive woman in this film and she happens to be the one that doesn't get fully naked.

Watch the trailer for this film. I watched it with my girlfriend and all she had to say was "This doesn't make any sense... It is a bunch of random scenes that don't fit together interspersed with porn." And sadly it applies just as well to the overall movie.

I have to admit, I watched this movie in the hopes that it would be as terrifically awful as Troll 2. It was mostly morbid curiosity. However, even though this movie was horrifically bad, it wasn't the least bit amusing how bad it was.

An evil Voodoo Witchdoctor runs a murder-for-hire business.

He'll do away with your unfaithful wife, your unappreciative boss, or your back-stabbing friend - but the price is your soul!

Whatever!

Film opens with a hot chick in a hood who cant act killing a couple on a swing set. Why? Who knows.

The film was made for ten cents and the acting is non existent. The witchmaster guy has a fey brit accent and is tedious to listen to because he cannot act his way out of a paper bag. He's completely uncomfortable in front of the camera. What's he doing in this movie?

Then there's this hot blond who also can't act (are we seeing a patter yet?) but you won't care cuz she soon takes off her clothes and va va voom she's hot. She should take on escorting cuz acting ain't her strong suit.

Film plods on with no direction. More hot chicks who can't act. More blond chick in bra and panties. They should have made this a porno at least it would have been watchable.

Suffice to say, the movie is not worth your time nor your brain cells. It's junk.

And the ONE good review on IMDb is clearly from someone involved in the film.

Good, fun "horror" film. Particularly enjoyed Phil Lewis, of the rock group Guns & Roses and I believe never acted before and Vic Martino of Sopranos. Haggerty himself plays a brief supporting role and as we are coming to know from some of his other features, he is a very funny and natural actor. I thought the special effects were good and an amusing turn by the card shark. Haggerty is giving a lot of good actors work. Lots of tongue and cheek humor, Haggerty has a helluva imagination. If you like lots of good shots of full frontal female nudity, this one's for you.

Production credits, music etal look good.

For Jim Haggerty's fourth film, he has enlisted the help of Phil Lewis, lead singer of the band LA Guns. Lewis shines in the title role as Dr Phineas Gorgon, a doctor with some unusual prescriptions for helping people solve their problems. Vic Martino also does a great job as the detective trying to make sense of it all, and stop Gorgon from his evil ways. The acting in this film overall is the most consistent of Haggerty's films, and combined with some great dialogue and an engrossing story line, really keeps you interested in the film. All the women are gorgeous, and as is the norm with Haggerty's films, there is plenty of nudity. Most of his films also contain a good deal of humor, and this one is no exception. For a film made on practically no budget, it's easy to forgive some of the lighting, sound, and editing flaws, none of which detract from the film in a major way. A couple of the scenes however, didn't come off as well as the rest of the film, especially one featuring two women fighting. They seemed like they were having a laugh and a good time, rather than trying to kill each other. For someone who had never acted in a film before, Lewis is very effective, especially when dishing out some of his "prescriptions"; you can feel the pleasure he takes in the sadism he bestows on his victims. As another commenter noted, there is not a whole lot of special effects or gore in this film. Instead, Haggerty relies on the story, and the characters to keep the film interesting, and that's a welcome change from many of the movies in this genre currently being released. This film is recommended for anyone who enjoys horror movies that rely on atmosphere and plot, as it has the feel of some of the classic Hammer films from the 60's and 70's. If you enjoy those types of films, check this one out.