Darkside Witches - Hexen des Dämons

First the story, it is a cool throwback to more Gothic, dark fantasy horror revolving around witches, persecution and revenge. You could place this situation in any European and Colonial setting and the story is the same. Females burned for being witches, town cursed, and wah-lah! Witches survive to get their vengeance. I actually love these kinds of films involving the occult and witches. The classic, old world concept of witches that may be insensitive to the modern day witch/Wiccan, but true to our ancient past's view of the hag/crone/wicked maiden.

Gerard Diefenthal manages to give the story some lift, creating iconic character types, Gothic settings, and plenty of drama mixed with gore. The film does move almost mirror-image to what I image the storyboard concept looked like. The transitions are blunt, quick changing and move the story quickly from moment to moment much like graphic novel/animation adaptations tend to do. For example one moment there is a woman in the kitchen preparing and in the next instant the scene transitions to her handing some homeless guy soup or something to eat with a wicked grin. The dialog is not over- burdening to the story, only crucial conversations that give the plot and sinister plans the witches have for the town, other characters idle chatter, or short scenes with just a couple of sentences. It allows for the action and suggested drama tell a lot of the story instead of some long speech like dialog delivered laboriously by the cast. It is overdubbed so be warned.

Now for me the nail in the coffin for this film isn't the overdubbed vs. subtitle choice, it is the CGI choices that were made to create the supernatural, witchy-ness side of the film. It is very low grade stuff, closer to Syfy on a dime. Think "Witchville". It is almost comical when those scenes take over the story. It all really shreds "Darkside Witches" momentum, and potential for being one of the modern day cult classics - you know the ones that are so bad they are good. Well the CGI here is just really bad and sad. That said, there are some really awesome, gory moments that use splattergore styled practical effects that scream Italian giallo! Really nice blood drenched moments. And the nudity is almost on soft-core porn level.

All this is why I had to watch the film a few times. At first I thought-"What is this crap?", then the practical effects moments kicked in and I was like "Heck yeah!". Overall "Darkside Witches" is not gonna go over well for most horror fans, I mean this film is really gonna aim at a small select group of people who like the Syfy, CGI saturated stuff that uses gaming level computer effects. I am truly conflicted. Not because I am split on the film. I am conflicted because I liked the story, I love films about witches, and the gore and horror here, when practical choices are made, are awesome! Yet the overdubbed voices are so hokey and kill the seriousness of the dialog and scenes that it is troublesome. The CGI is, in all honesty, crap! And the transitions and smoothness of the story just moves to choppy and hurried to allow for any real connection with the characters.

I love Horror and Fantasy film. After watching this I was a bit disturbed and surprised, for the intense final and the twisted plot. I never knew what was happening next, and I got some thrilling moments, that isn't a bad thing for an horror I think. The story of the movie is interesting, at first it may seem naive and hard to follow, but at the end it gets it's point. It's based on true tale of witchcraft and Inquisition. The film recounts how these women were burned at the stake get revenge with the help of a demon. The music from Claudio Simonetti (Suspiria, Deep Red etc) is also good and chilling sometimes. CGI and graphics are very good, with some good animation and creatures and some hell scenery really well done. So many shocking moments like the witch ripping off the p***s of a brute in a bar, and a lot of boobs! All in all a real good unconventional dirty horror indie flick. I would recommend it to every crazy film lovers, you won't get bored.

If you love unusual B horror films, Italian horror especially, you might like this movie. It has a retro 80's soundtrack that is quite good and an interesting mix of sex, Satan worship, witchcraft & gore. I've seen comparisons made to old Hanmer movies...that's a reach IMO. Hammer movies were much better than this, almost all of them were but I know what the commentator was trying to get across. This movie is a retro attempt at the sort of B horror movies made in the late 70's & throughout the 80's in Italy & Spain. My wife quit on it 20min into it, I watched it twice back to back so there you go. I think it's destined to be a B horror cult classic myself.

When I found this movie, I thought it was just another horror movie of low quality but minimally funny and tolerable. Unfortunately, I was wrong. This movie is a poorly cooked mix of weak horror, gore and porn. Far from being minimally acceptable, it's a witch story that blends elements of past and present, and there is something for everyone. You can see a demonic creature like a dog full of steroids and heroin, tropical bats roaming the scene as if they were in the jungles of Thailand or Central America, a priest burned and looking like a disgusting mummy, the two dumbest cops that Carabinieri has ever had, a horrible CGI of laughable taste and quality, witches wearing provocative leather clothes, several scenes of cannibalism and hard gore, at least one VERY explicit sex scene worthy of a porn movie etc... etc...

In the same way that the plot doesn't deserve major comments, the same happens with the cast, who blends a lot of beginners, who should never have made cinema in their life, and professionals of Italian porn movies. Barbara Bouchet is the only name that can be recognized by some audience because she entered in the film "Gangs of New York" and gave life to Miss Moneypenny, in the non-canonical film "007 Casino Royale" (1967). Besides this decadent actress, we can point Gerard Diefenthal, at the same time actor, screenwriter, director and responsible for this cinematographic abortion. Its a pity that such a film cannot be a reason to prevent this director from making more films the same way that police can take our driving license for some reason. Unfortunately, the possibility of a sequel was suggested with an open end. I will pray to God with all my strength that this sequel NEVER happens. It would be a disgrace!

This movie wasn't just beyond stupid, it was original and creepy!

I don't know what problem you have "Lokisgodhi", this site is just full of stupid trolls that think to be clever. I watched this film twice, once alone and once with some friends. It's fun and I think really original, instant cult classic to my eyes.

As an old school Italian horror fan what you can see in this film is the passion the filmmakers put inside this production. CGI is way beyond average indie production, and the plot and editing just brilliant. I think the director has a knack to make you feel uncomfortable and deceive the spectator. Character may seem superficial and sketchy but at they manage to sustain the weird plot to end.

All in all a cool flick to watch that keeps you excited for 90 min and more. Really hope they make a sequel out of it.