Witchcraft III: The Kiss of Death

You might think that a film this weak would be the kiss of death for any horror franchise, but not the Witchcraft series: despite Part III being yet another utterly unmemorable example of cheap and nasty straight to video crud, the films just kept on coming (there's sixteen of them to date!).

I might be a bit sketchy about the details of this one since I struggled to stay awake, but I seem to recall that son of a witch William (Charles Solomon Jr.) is now a defense attorney, trying to prevent the innocent from being sent to death row. When evil warlock Louis (Domonic Luciana) gets between William and his big-breasted girlfriend Charlotte (Lisa Toothman), the lawyer must use his supernatural powers to fight back.

As with the previous two Witchcraft films, the production values are very low, the acting is pitiful, and the plot is completely unremarkable. Director Rachel Feldman tries to keep punters happy with a spot of soft-core sex and some gratuitous nudity, but even that proves boring. Unless you happen to be a movie masochist like myself, you would probably be better off giving this one a miss.

WITCHCRAFT III: THE KISS OF DEATH opens in a bar / club, or it could be a coal mine, since it's really too dark to see much. Thankfully, in addition to the murkiness, everyone is dressed in black! In no time, a woman is killed via the titular lip-lock by a mysterious man, who we soon learn is named Louis.

Louis goes on to meet Will Spanner (Charles Solomon Jr.) from part 2, who is now a defense attorney. Will's fashion designer wife, Charlotte (Lisa Toothman) doesn't understand his bizarre behavior, lately. Apparently, she missed part two of this series! Of course, it doesn't help that Will's last name was "Adams" then! Either that, or Charlotte's too busy outfitting models for her latest curtain / comforter concoctions.

The murders continue until the final confrontation sends Will and Louis hurtling through Charlotte's fall collection!

Part 3 has far less story and more nudity than its predecessors. This is when the seemingly endless sequels began turning away from any semblance of horror, and increasingly into the silly, soft core cheeeze arena...

A good warlock fights for the love of a woman against an evil warlock. The story is thinly disguised as a horror film, and not a very good one at that. Slightly better than the first two, but not by much. Most of the female cast members are terrific looking, and are frequently naked. 2 out of 10.

My review was written in April 1991 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

Third entry in the popular home video "Witchcraft" series scores high in sexiness but low in the supernatural realm. It should appeal to fans of erotic thrillers.

Charles Solomon, whose acting is unconvincing throughout, toplines as the son of a warlock who denies his ancestry (and inherited powers) until he has to do battle with a vampire bad guy (Domonic Luciano).

Luciano, who preys on Solomon and his girlfriend (Lisa Toothman), periodically kills women with a kiss of death that literally ucks the life out of them.

Luciano's own girlfriend is platinum blonde Luana Hall, who gets an energy transfusion every time her beau puts the fatal smooch on someone, Plot comes unglued when Luciano offs the femme prosecutor who's been giving Solomon a hard time.

Pic climaxes when Luciano dumps Hall and makes Toothman his new thrall. Using inherited witchcraft, and a little help from witch doctor William L. Baker, Solomon puts Luciano out of commission.

Real find here is heroine Toothman. After small film roles and Playboy Channel appearances, she proves to be vulnerable as well as voluptuous in a leading role. Luciano also makes a smooth villain.

Action scenes, particularly the anticlimactic final reel fights, are awkwardly staged with chintzy special effects.

Will Spanner (Charles Solomon Jr.) is now an attorney and not living a life as a warlock. But, another warlock named Louis (Domonic Luciana) steps into his life and is messing things up. He has committed murder using Spanner's car in hit and run and is after his girlfriend Charlotte (Lisa Toothman) as well. Guess he's going to have to get his warlock on and fight this guy.

Usually three strikes means your out, but not in this series. An endless parade of more sequels has followed. While I do believe Rachel Feldman may have been the most competent director so far in the series, you still gotta have something to work with. The film gets silly and nonsensical. Not to mention the effects while once again used sparingly (which is good) are pretty cheesy.