Witchcraft IV: The Virgin Heart

I watched the first three movies in this series just over a year ago, took a year off as I didn't really enjoy any of them, but thought alright let's get back into the WITCHCRAFT series. Then comes this dud.

Supposedly 3 years after part 3 a girl named Nora Breckenridge (Diane Thomas or Sunset Thomas as she is better known in the adult films she made) goes missing. The cops think her boyfriend is the culprit. He is played by Orien Richman as Pete Wild...no really that's the character's name. His sister Lily (Lisa Jay Harrington) hires Will Spanner (Charles Solomon) to be his lawyer. He then connects it to a stripper named Belladonna (Julie Strain) who he begins to tail to find out what happened.

I feel bad for Solomon as this was his third and final WITCHCRAFT flick and really what a terrible way to go. His character has really been reduced almost nothing as times when he should be doing something to help himself or other people he does nothing and ends up peeping in Lily's window watching her undress as well before it fades to the next scene. Horribly lit as you feel like they didn't have enough money to even turn the lights on. Horrible sound as half the time you can hardly pick out what the actors are saying. Horribly directed as you generally go from one extremely long, boring shot to the next and any scene may in fact only have two shots in it. This movie seems so much cheaper than the earlier entries, which is really saying something. Not sure how I am going to get through the rest of the endless series.

Witchcraft IV: The Virgin Heart (1992)

* (out of 4)

The fourth film in the series finds lawyer Will Spanner (Charles Solomon) involved with a new girl (Julie Strain) while trying to investigate a case involving a man accused of killing his girlfriend. It turns out that the devil's son is also working the music scene by having young musicians sell him their souls in exchange for fame. I'm honestly not sure how those two stories were supposed to connect but WITCHCRAFT IV tries to do it but of course fails miserably. The first three films in the series were bad but each of them featured something strangely bad that made them entertaining. This fourth installment is clearly the worst of the bunch and you can't even say it reaches a so bad it's good level. The biggest problem is that there's just not much of a story here and what little there is gets stretched to a 93-minute running time, which is about 73-minutes too long. The film does offer up some rather funny moments including the scene where our lawyer-warlock goes up against the D.A. trying to say his client is innocent. The dialogue for these two going back and forth managed to get me to laugh. It's also funny hearing the lawyer tell the talented stripper that she should join a band and sing for a living. And let us not forget the scene where our lawyer buddy gets backstage at a strip club by claiming to have gotten lost looking for the bathroom (I hate when that happens). The performances, as you'd expect, are all pretty poor and even Solomon comes off rather bored here. Strain certainly can't act but I'm fairly certain she was hired for her breasts, which she shows a few times throughout the film. WITCHCRAFT IV just drags along so badly that it's really hard to find any sort of entertainment in it.

My review was written in August 1992 after watching the movie on Academy video cassette.

"Witchcraft IV' is one of the best in this popular home video series, with an alluring central performance by pinup Julie Strain. This patented combination of sex and horror will get a brisk response.

For the third film in a row, Charles Solomon (who had a small role as part of Jim Garrison's team in "JFK") plays lawyer Will Spanner, who suppresses his warlock nature until called back into action by adversarial witches.

He's hired by Lisa Jay Harringotn to defend her brother, accused in a ritual murder. Trai leads to evil Britisher Clive Pearson, who manages the career of sexy stripper/chanteuse Belladonna (Julie Strain).

In a script nod to Walter Hill's "Crossroads", an occultist acquaints Solomon with "The Legend of the Blues", relating musical mastery to devil worship. Happy ending is a bit hard to swallow, but the producers undoubtedly are thinking of sequels.

Solomon is his usual good ole boy self, while Strain, a 6-foot tall model familiar from both Penthouse and Playboy magazines and videos, has her best acting showcase to date in the central role. Special effects are minor.

The fourth part of the epically lengthed Witchcraft franchise gives me the impression that their quality isn't going to improve anytime soon.

Once again we have yet another truly awful attempt at a horror following the "Adventures" of our warlock Will.

I'm fast starting to think that along with being one of the longest movie franchises in history that it may well be one of the worst.

Also starring Julie Strain this is another barely followable crapfest.

The Good:

At least they follow on from each other

The Bad:

Poor sound balancing

Film noir attempt is dumb

Terrible plot

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

In reverse land Julie Strain wears clothes in films!

In WITCHCRAFT IV: THE VIRGIN HEART, a woman is abducted and it's up to private investigator / warlock, Will Spanner (Charles Solomon Jr.) to get to the bottom of things.

Spanner's search leads him to a club called Coven. This is a rough place. How rough? Well, it's filled with industrial smog, and the bartender wears nothing but waders pulled up to his man-nipples! Now, that's rough!

Thankfully, a dancer called Belladonna (Julie Strain!) takes the club stage. It's not long before her clothing dissolves into memory. Henceforth, we realize that this is Ms. Strain's movie, for our minds are filled with nothing else! Fans of this Amazon, warrior-goddess take note: She's really good in this! While one could simply watch her standing mute, for hours, she proves herself to be more than the sum of her magnificent parts!

As Spanner delves into Belladonna's dark world, he becomes increasingly involved with her.

Mostly a mystery / detective story, those expecting a straightforward occult film will be sadly disappointed. For a movie called WITCHCRAFT, it seems absurd to save almost all of the supernatural stuff for the final 20 minutes!

Those expecting a non-stop, Julie Strain-naked-extravaganza will be only mildly satisfied, since she's interrupted constantly by the long-winded story! Seriously, it's ludicrous anyway, and could be told in a 10 minute, short film!

MOST UNBELIEVABLE SCENE: When Belladonna is abused by some mere man. You'll keep yelling, "Why doesn't she just kick his a$$?!", at the screen...