La Maison de la Sorcière

A bunch of college students are invited to a creepy old mansion by their weird friend for a Halloween party, however she has summoned an ancient witch (who also happens to be family) to kill them all. Thankfully short routine horror film with poor F/X, lame one liners, little plot, and a lousy cast. Rated R; Sexual Situations, Violence, and Profanity.

To have two sequels, this film must have been a success which surprised Fool Moon, and can only be due to its half-namesake, The Blair Witch Titanic.

To end this review, there is more fake thunder and lightning in this film than all other films combined in history. I underexaggerate, because one might have {lightning and thunder} to include a few real ones {thunder and lightning} too. But {thunder, lightning} this could cause anyone with epilepsy to be {lightning, then thunder} killed. If not cured. Or cause it in one without it {thunder and soon the lightning}. This alone makes it almost unwatchable and unhearable. I kill you not, this {thunder while lightning} {lightning and thunder} goes {thunder and lightning} on until {lightning and thunder} the very end. It is that much. It's always overhead {lightning and thunder then lightning too} too, because the {thunder} thunder almost comes before the lightning {lightning} every time. {No thunder. Thunder.} It is set in {thunder, before lightning} one house, until when they come outside. The End.

I did partly enjoy the guy who couldn't help taking off that guy in the original FrightNight, with his weird way of talking like he had a lighting and thunder rod on his head. And there is some Fullish Moon humour between humans, witch I laughed at. But by far the highlight is the eary metallic thunder and studio lightning which stole every scene, as if it would go dark otherwise or the film would run out. But it did not. Watch The Titanic Blair Witch Project inhomestead.

I'm not sure of DeCoteau's intentions here, but this seems like a homage to Kevin Tenney movies, particularly NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, and boy does it suck!

A group of teens are invited to a party by a weird girl named Elizabeth (Ashley McKinney), who uses a seance to resurrect the demonic Lilith (ghouled-up Ariauna Albright) in the basement. The rest of this "movie" is attractive young people wandering around a big house, getting killed offscreen and returning as demons. Scripter Matthew Jason Walsh provides plenty of dumb dialogue and vapid characters, but forgot to throw even one original idea into this supernatural snoozer with no gore, suspense, plot, notable special effects, nudity or point, and there's no excuse for such bad acting (though I'm willing to let Matt Raftery and McKinney off the hook for at least trying). Not surprisingly, many of them came from that wretched MTV series "Undressed."

Horrible all around! I'm a fan of bad B movie horror that's so bad it's good but this is not even that. This is -D horror movie minus any horror. Plot is horrible & acting is horribly worse. One female character is so annoying you hope for her to go fast & horribly painfully. Turns out it was Brooke Mueller, ex-wife addict of Charlie Sheen. It's unbearable to watch but I made myself finish it to see if it had any redeeming moments - it doesn't. Just dumb characters who behaved in ways no real person would in that scenario. Just so dumb! A complete piece of sh@%. Skip it & save yourself headache & frustration.

WITCHOUSE is a typical witch-seeks-revenge movie from Full Moon Pictures.

In this effort, an descendant of the witch in question invites the descendants of those who killed her to a party, where she intends to kill them off.

As anyone who has seen Full Moon movies knows, they are very much hit-and-miss. They have produced some real low-budget gems such as DEATHBED, BLEED and CASTLE FREAK. But there are also lesser works such as PUPPETMASTER or SKINNED ALIVE in their portfolio.

WITCHOUSE is one of the worst offerings I have seen from them. It is said to be a rip-off of NIGHT OF THE DEMONS. I have seen that movie myself. It is not much better but the comparisons are not far wrong.

Believe it or not, I actually saw the second sequel to WITCHOUSE, WITCHOUSE 3: DEMON FIRE beforehand. The sequel, whilst far from being great, is much better than the plodding waste of time that the original comprises of.

The individual scenes along with the dialogue are actually not that bad. It is the execution, particularly the acting, that is the major problem.

The worst actress of the lot is Ashley McKinney. Elizabeth should have been creepy and sinister. But Miss McKinney's portrayal was lifeless. The séance scene where Elizabeth tells the "guests" about Lilith just seemed to go on and on. She uttered every line in a very monotonous manner, without emotion or energy.

The villainess of the piece - Lilith - as depicted here is one of the most laughable creations I have seen. She is much more menacing in DEMON FIRE, where she has a COMPLETELY different appearance and is played by a different actress.

The protagonists are dull, uninteresting teenagers who are clearly played by actors well into their 20s. Brad and Maria are a sex-craved couple who do nothing but that. Scott was the "nerd" who did not seem the least bit scared of anything. Tony was an absolute moron. Janet was an annoying tomboy. Jack was an unlikely hero. And Jennifer was just plain dull.

The direction is flat and the special effects are lousy. I know this is a mega low-budget movie. But this is no excuse. DEMON FIRE does better on a budget that is stated on this site to be just $26,000. The latter movie includes a strobe lighting effect that is very effective.

The background music should have been ominous but instead just added to the dreary tone of the camera-work.

Oh, and if you're looking for nudity, you're certainly in the wrong place!

Overall, WITCHOUSE is an incredibly dull witch-seeks-revenge movie. I would advise people to skip this one. I don't know what WITCHOUSE 2 is like but WITCHOUSE 3: DEMON FIRE is certainly a better movie than the original. I would recommend the latter movie to fans of Full Moon or straight-to-DVD horror movies. I would advise others to check out a British movie called TERROR, directed by Norman J. Warren. This creepy, atmospheric and suspenseful movie demonstrates how a witch-seeking-revenge movie should be done!