The Book of the Witch

I applaud the producers for making a quality movie like this without all the money and resources of studios.

This is an interesting film with solid acting and cinematic flourishes. The film is limited by its few number of locations and actors, but at under 75 minutes in length, it is not too much of a handicap. Much of the film takes place on one floor of a deserted office building in LA. This is my only complaint. It does betray the budget of the film.

The characterization of the witch, living in modern times is excellent! Her California high desert setting is perfect for the witch to work.

The plot starts off well enough, however, the actual back and forth between the witch and the protagonist Victoria was a little hard to follow. I had to rewind several times to get the story right.

Otherwise, Bravo to the team that brought this minor horror gem to light!

The open scenes are fantastic beginning with the witch creating a new "friend". This is a movie set in modern day and the villain is a witch from the 1700's that moves with purpose mixed with some light comedy (not campy) (not corny) spread throughout. Great acting and cinematography. No hollywood budget but The Book of the Witch didnt need it. Great movie.

I watched a very interesting film the other night called The Book of the Witch (2024) written and directed by Joshua Sowden through Self Esteem Productions. It's a very original movie with some fantastic acting.

What works: The acting was very good! @krishnasmitha and Danny Parker-Lopes worked very well together as co-workers in the movie. Smitha was very persuasive in her roll as a witch hunter. Another thing I really liked about the movie was that it took your stereotypical witch-pointy hat and all-and made it into something terrifying and believable. You initially look at @onlyalicat in her role as the witch and initially think it's cheesy but she pulls it off in a really terrifying way. The acting is what made this movie also effective.

What doesn't work: I felt like the movie stalled a little right before its cool climactic ending. I wish the movie had gone a more into the witch's origins (the mythology behind the story was very cool) but maybe a more about what drove Smitha's character. Those ideas were explained effectively enough but I think it was a little more room to expand. Overall though, those are small issues I have but they don't hurt my overall positive review.

The Book of the Witch is a great movie for anyone who loves movies about witches! The acting is quality, the "showing, not telling" approach was very good, and the witch herself was very terrifying!

Directed by Joshua Sowden, THE BOOK OF THE WITCH is a solid micro-budget indie horror film that blends Western American folk horror, with supernatural witch fantasy. It oozes lots of dreamy atmosphere and great wide angle shots with darkened silhouettes of our characters, giving us this doom impending slow burning mystery. I was very impressed with the production and cinematography right from the get go, and all done on a micro budget of $12k.

Victoria, who is plagued by her fear of death, becomes obsessed with tracking down a witch and stealing her book of spells out in the Californian desert; to help cheat death and become eternal, but there's a price to be paid. Like a moth drawn to the flame, you already sense the impending doom that's awaiting like a well planned trap. The visuals from Joshua Sowden were created nicely and I really enjoyed the dreamy sound design too.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed THE BOOK OF THE WITCH, and thought the cast were all very solid with their performances. Krishna Smitha was excellent throughout the whole film and her chemistry with Danny Parker-Lopes was great too. Despite some little issues I had towards the end, where I felt personally that the film may have hurried itself to the finish line, I still enjoyed the film as a whole. I also loved the psychological hallucinatory fever dream feel throughout the whole story in a way that reminded me of David Lynch. I'll definitely be looking out for further projects from these filmmakers in the future.

The book of the witch is a modern tale of witch craft, and the search for longevity.

Beyond the low budget (which is maximised exceedingly well), the minimal cast (who perform their roles well beyond the levels you'd expect), the cinematography (which makes such incredible use of natural and artificial light) and the locations (which smack of horror), the witch herself, a period personification of the Salem type witches you instantly imagine, but scary and evil as you would want, this is a film, masterfully told and I am so excited to see what this team produces next.

If you haven't caught this film yet, I, obviously, highly recommend it.