Death by Invitation

Reborn in modern times, the ancestor of a crucified witch begins a path of vengeance against the descendants of those who targeted her as the burgeoning body count forces a skeptical police officer to stop the rampage.

This is one of the most bland and lifeless of the kind of films of the genre. This is merely due to one important factor where it's so light on horror hardly anything really happens here. Instead, this one turns into such a talky, drama-centered film that this one eats up nearly a third on its running time on several different monologues that just eat up time here doing nothing but generate extreme boredom recounting a story about her encounter with the Devil that would've been better served as an on-screen flashback instead of a dialogue-only sequence, or even the unimportant tale about the female warrior tribe which is just endless, tiresome and has little to do with the movie itself which all combined together make it's inclusion an incredibly weird one but the decision to make it last so long is really puzzling and troublesome for the film as a whole. The revenge tactics employed here are mostly done off-camera and quite rarely make for interesting viewing as to how it plays out here with such a decided lack of interesting moments as the entire film goes through the notion of not following through with anything of value. The attempts at building suspense by focusing on the family around her going about their lives are just flat-out boring, the scenarios presented here are even more so and it really features nothing even remotely engaging or enjoyable. The only remotely tolerable part is the finale, where the full revenge is accomplished in a remotely engaging manner, but it really is just the one scene here that works while nearly everything else here is a disaster.

Rated R: Violence and Language.

There are only two saving graces here, the great soundtrack of oddball library prog-rock-ish music and the smoking hot lead (who is still a terrible actress). Everything else is amateur hour, the editing, the direction, the sets, the effects, EVERYTHING. This is boredom central and should be avoided at all costs.

This film does have the feel of an Andy Milligan movie from around this same time zone of 1968-1974. But it rises above that level in spots. It starts rather lamely with a protracted witch trial sequence but then effectively and abruptly cuts to modern day. The modern story plays off the troubles of the times, the family breaking apart with the hippie children and 50's era work ethics of the parents and their strick religious belief--which mirrors a bit the witch trial beliefs.

The modern day version of the wronged witch uses these tensions to help her revenge. As in other films like this the same actors appear in the modern day story who are also in the "flashback" opening. Parts of the flashbacks continue through the whole film and eventually we see more of the flashback story than is presented at the start. Though some of this flashback stuff does just seem like padding in spots.

There is also an underplayed and non-nudity sexual element to the film-- also part of the era. Would the film be more powerful if it had more nudity? Probably given how the story would lend itself to that. I say all this just to give some context to the film as those elements will all seem alien to people watching it now, by and large anyway.

The acting is not great, but not inept either, which is pretty much true of the whole film in most regards. I saw this on TCM and the description says it's about an ax murderer which it isn't, though an ax figures into one scene. Though slowish the film has some memorable things, a double murder, a head floating in a bag full of blood, odd attempts at comedy in one office scene, and the story of the Brazilian tribe of female hunters. That's probably the most memorable scene in the film and is well acted by the generally good looking female lead Shelby Leverington, who went on to a full-on career in acting. The film has that poverty row NYC feel in spots in a good way. It also features that oddly thick blood from the era. Yes this is for fans of the fringes of filmmaking and indie horror, but what's wrong with that? The ending is good and unexpected. The music score is odd and usually dated and ineffective but it too has some good moments. The film has a very thin sound mix and sometimes uses only music in an effective way. If you like this kind of supernatural revenge story and the feel of films of this era give it a shot, it has a few shocks and value amid the clumsy or dullish bits.

In colonial times, a woman is killed for witchcraft. In present day, Lise seeks revenge upon her ancestor's killers' descendants. Writer/director Ken Friedman seems to have been a minor filmmaker. That's the feel of this indie. It's a minor work of a minor creator. It's boring. Even with an indie, the filmmaker's style can be retrieved. One can see the skills even without the budget. Kevin Smith has his humor in Clerks. Christopher Nolan has his intrigue in Following. Darren Aronofsky has his weirdness in Pi. This indie is boring. Friedman does try but he isn't doing anything good. Shelby Leverington has some beauty but staring at her face in closeup for extended time ends up being boring and pretentious. It's not weird enough to be camp. It's not daring enough to be interesting. It's boring. Even the blood looks weak. There is some competency in the filmmaking but it's not enough.

No one going into a low budget film like this should expect a masterpiece, but reading the reviews, I was prepared for something far less competent than this movie about an intergenerational curse as the product of a witch burning (think Mario Bava's Black Sunday but set in modern day - well, 1971 - Staten Island).

You sort of expect barely-good-enough performances and barely competent direction with something like this, but several things really threw me for a loop:

First is the performance of the smoking hot Shelby Leverington, the revengeful protagonist of the movie. Her performance here exceeds expectations which adds to the surreal quality of the film generally.

I should also mention, in particular, the performance of Norman Parker as Jake, who matches her excellently and believably.

The other thing is the unsettling yet appealing left-field prog-psych soundtrack which was notable enough that it kept drawing my attention.

There are no big twists here and the plot is hardly original, but the direction is competent and it exceeds a lot of other films with this sort of subject matter from that time period.

I don't agree with the negative reviews of this film. Compared to all of the other occult horror of the period, this one stands up a lot better than most of the rest, avoiding exploitation elements in favor of something a little more subtle. There's some blood and some sex, but it is muted and serves the plot.

This is not Citizen Kane. You have to suspend a few critical faculties for this.

But for what it is, you can do a whole lot worse.

Also: if any woman ever starts telling you a story about the Southern Tribes, my suggestion is to head for the exit immediately.