Sorceress

Sorceress (1995)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Penthouse pet Julia Strain plays a witch who uses black magic to paralyze a man (Edward Albert) who was seeking a high paying job. The witch did this so that her former lover would get the job and help his career skyrocket. The paralyzed man is thankfully married to a woman (Linda Blair) who also happens to be a witch.

There's honestly more "plot" in this softcore flick than any other that I've ever seen. In reality there's probably enough plot here for four of these types of films but director Jim Wynorski is a genius when it comes to these types of "B" movies. SORCERESS became a huge hit when it first started to play on stations on Cinemax but when it came time to release it to Blu-ray the director was able to make an uncut version, which features a lot more full frontal nudity.

So, how is the film? In all honesty I found it to be fairly entertaining for what it was. Obviously if you're coming into this movie expecting CITIZEN KANE then you only have yourself to blame. The film certainly isn't a masterpiece but if you enjoy this type of low-budget movie then there's plenty here to be entertained by. This includes the non-stop nudity and softcore sex scenes, which Wynorski at least manages to make erotic. A lot of times I find these scenes to be laughably bad but the director handles them well here.

Another major plus is that the cast is actually very entertaining and helps keep you into the events. This includes Albert, Blair and Michael Parks. They're going to be the best known people here and while Blair was never a great actress her presence alone is worthwhile. I also thought Strain was good in the role of the witch and Rochelle Swanson is also good.

I really thought there was a tad bit too much plot a few too many characters but SORCERESS is at least entertaining, rather well-made and there's enough nudity to keep anyone awake.

Produced by Fred Olen Ray and directed by Jim Wynorski. The involvement of these two names is already a proper indication that "Sorceress" isn't exactly going to be a high work of cinematic art, but merely a sleazy and flat out insignificant piece of 90's trash. Olen Ray and Wynorski clearly weren't interested in a movie about witchery spells and supernatural revenge, they just wanted to exploit the voluptuous chests of their female cast members as much as humanly possible. And who can seriously blame them, if that cast includes names like Rochelle Swanson, Kristi Ducati, Toni Naples and Julie Strain? Actually, the biggest starlet of "Sorceress" is Linda Blair, but unfortunately she doesn't get topless. She just accidentally ended up in a hopelessly inept B-movie production … again. "Sorceress" has the most ludicrous and imbecilic plot imaginable but, as said already, you're not supposed to pay attention to little details like that. As a matter of fact, the film is really a predecessor to the successful TV-series "Desperate Housewives". This is about a bunch of spoiled and snobbish rich women, the wives and mistresses of lawyers of an acclaimed agency, who got so bored that they became experts in the field of witchcraft and demonology. They use their powers to get their husbands promoted or to make each others' lives miserable. When one of Erica's spells narrowly goes wrong, costing almost the life of Amelia's beloved husband Howard, her man Larry leaves her. Erica falls off a balcony during the struggle, but she has enough black magic wisdom to haunt Larry's sexual fantasies from beyond the grave. Meanwhile, Amelia is out for revenge as well and she's even supremely witch enough to have Erica reincarnate as Larry's new love- interest Carol. Admittedly this all sounds a lot more complex than it actually is. "Sorceress" is a fairly straightforward B-movie with an enormous amount of plot holes and silly conclusion. This film is about Julie Strain's kinky outfits, the lesbian threesome halfway through the film, the shower interlude of Kristi Ducati and – to a slightly lesser extent – the sexy charisma of a mature Linda Blair.

There's an attempt at a story, but who are they trying to kid? Let's get this straight. Sorceress is purely a T&A flick, but it also delivers the goods. I stumbled onto the box at a video store and rented it just because of Julie Strain's name. If you watch any amount of T&A flicks or direct to video B-movies you know when she's the headliner in a movie exactly what you're getting. I wasn't disappointed.

Cheaply filmed, the cast is surprisingly better than you expect to see in this type of material. Though there won't be any acting awards given out. The story with it's witchcraft element is a bit silly and the ending quite stupid, but there's no denying the movie does it's job. Between the ladies featured there's enough T&A to keep you happy and former Penthouse Pet Julie Strain looks great here.

The female cast of this movie is terrific: you've got Linda Blair (maturing nicely), Julie Strain (who doesn't get too many speaking lines - that's a good thing), Rochelle Swanson (equally convincing as a sweet innocent girl or as an evil possessed girl), Toni Naples, and the most beautiful of them all IMO, the simply stunning Kristina Ducati (how the goofy male lead, Larry Poindexter, deserved to get sexually involved with any of these women remains a mystery). However, beyond the chance to watch these beautiful and in some cases talented women, the movie has little to offer. The plot is disjointed and doesn't really get going until the last 15 minutes or so; and when Wynorski finally manages to create some suspense, a ludicrous "twist" ending comes and ruins everything. (*1/2)

Remarkable and naked bodies will surely cause any dedicated surfer to pause on this one awhile, but only if it's on a movie channel. Without the nudity this one wouldn't hold anyone's attention for long. Even Linda Blair looks great (the best she's looked since she was kidnapped by Martin Sheen), but Eddie Albert Jr.( Butterflies are Free), who's far too talented for this film, looks like the director (or Linda) has ridden him hard.