Curse of the Witching Tree

Oh dear. I have contemplated creating an IMDb profile to be able to post reviews in the past, but this was the movie that finally compelled me to get off my a**e and put pen to paper. Not because CotWT is so irredeemably awful (although it is), but because a number of the early reviews to be posted here were so thoroughly misleading. I can only re-iterate what others have already suggested: the positive reviews can ONLY have been posted by people with a vested interest in promoting this pile of garbage. But, to an extent, they did their job - I was suckered into watching the movie, and I daresay I wasn't the only one. Hey-ho.

I'm not going to bother saying too much about the movie itself, there's no real point. The script is direction-less and largely incomprehensible. The acting is laughable - there is a reason you have never heard of any of these actors before, and you certainly won't be hearing of them in the future. The plot consists of taking just about every scary movie cliché and putting them together in a series of badly-acted, largely unrelated scenes. And the editing is absolutely laughable, probably the worst aspect of the whole sorry enterprise. I was sat watching this with my wife and daughter and, after fifteen minutes or so of us all sitting in embarrassed silence at the horror unfolding before our eyes, I turned to them and said "This is without doubt the worst movie I have ever watched". I wasn't even joking. However, this was a turning point of sorts, since from that moment onwards we were all able to relax and enjoy the movie for its unique awfulness, rather than trying to discern any sort of artistic merit in it. It actually made for quite an entertaining ninety minutes or so, as we sat there laughing as one pointless cliché followed another in this procession of over-acted, poorly scripted dross.

If I were to recommend this film on any level, it would be just that: if you are looking for a challenger for your own Worst Movie Ever Watched list, this could well be the one you have been waiting for.

Bleuch.

The video quality will be a good indictator - you'll be able to tell that this is not a big budget movie. And maybe something you do not want to watch anyway. That will be up to you. Predictable and a few other flaws - quite a few to be honest. This still might be something for the hardcore horror fan out there.

Not easy to watch and/or follow this tries to make the best of a story that easy to follow if you were to put it nicely. Some shock effects work, there is a bit of nudity and the ending is not half as bad as I expected it to be. Still you can use your time better and do something more productive with it - I'm certain about that.

Unhappy family moves into an old house while the father lies comatose in hospital. But the house is cursed by the spirit of a wronged mother.

OK, it's low budget but ... sigh. Doesn't anyone in Britain watch indie-American or French horror? Does everything have to be heritage ghostery, or Up Yours! soap opera?

The story does get its spooks on at about 40 mins, with an effective inter-cut of brother/sister/father, and the dialogue thins out as the director finally uses the camera. I won't mention what went before. Couple of badly timed jump scares - the first is literal, the second imitates a scene in Jessabelle.

It's hard on actors when they're presented with a mess, so I can't judge how good they are - except Eva the blind visionary was convincing: she had timing, and the visual of candle flames for eyes was a good touch. Actors are there to act, not overact.

Sad to be harsh, but the writing, direction and editing caused a sharp intake of breath. Use of music was just cheese - see the prologue for evidence. Pfff.

Keep it simple: ditch half the dialogue, a third of the characters, and a quarter of the runtime. Then carve out a clear story through sound and editing.

I don't know who has written the other reviews here but I'm guessing they're connected to this heap of dross in some way. Only a mentally deficient person could possibly extract a single positive from this utter nonsense. The acting isn't even Am Dram standard, to compare it so would be unfair on the many wholehearted folks who participate in Am Dram. Wooden, spiritless and talentless. The story is beyond preposterous, the characters ludicrous, especially the moody teenage girl and 'tearaway' young lad. What I can't understand is how the directors and producers when watching rushes of this film didn't throw their hands up and admit they have made an utter howler and just bin the lot. That would have been the kind thing to do for the world at large.

This was my second failure to bring home a good scary movie for family movie night. So much cliché, from disrespectful children, to potato sacks

Acting was terrible, story was tired, and did I mention that the acting was terrible? Was no research done to try and bolster the attempts to make any of this more believable, was he in a coma, or taking a nap?

The scariest part of this movie, was the fact that at the advertised 90 minute mark it didn't end! It went on for another 3 minutes. Very disappointed, after reading some lengthy reviews that really promoted this as a significant indie shocker. At least I had enough time to do some dishes and laundry.