Witchouse 3: Demon Fire

Aside the boobfest, this is a Witchcraft-movie.

Has nothing to do with the previous Witchouse films aside the namedrop for the demon/witch, from which it's still the best, because it has a script that went through the basic checkings, and simply fits the tone and quality of the Witchcraft-movies, however low standard that means. There is a reason why that franchise reached 12 installments. I don't know what that reason is, but this definitely catched the same wibes.

Shot on video feature. OK acting. OK script. Alright camera work. So-so directing. Not horrible by any means. Nothing note worthy either. Blah. I always enjoy seeing Brinke Stevens, but her horror make up sucked. If they had a bigger budget there might be something there, they didn't use whatever budget they had in a creative enough way or maybe they should make fewer of these movies (Full Moon/Tempe) and put 3 of the movies budgets together and make one good one. Just a thought.

Take a handful of past-their-prime scream queens, some dreadful joke-shop make up, and a bargain-bin costume from the local fancy-dress shop, throw it all together with a messy script packed with magical mumbo-jumbo, and—hey presto!—you've got Witch House 3: Demon Fire!

Tanya Dempsey plays Annie, a young woman who leaves her abusive boyfriend to go and stay with her two best friends, documentary makers Stevie (Debbie Rochon) and Rose (Tina Krause). After an evening of supping wine in the hot-tub, the three women decide to dabble in a bit of black magic as part of Stevie's latest project, an in-depth expose on contemporary witchcraft. No prizes for guessing that this isn't a great idea!

At first this film looks like it might be a reasonably fun piece of trash; it gets its first hot-tub scene in fairly smartish (never a bad thing), follows that up with an enjoyably hokey magic ritual, and then delivers a welcome shower scene from buxom Krause. The fun stops and the tedium starts, however, once director J.R. Bookwalter tries to introduce his poorly developed plot, which ultimately proves to be nothing more than a weak tale of revenge into which a few supernatural elements have been clumsily shoehorned in order to justify the use of the Witch House monicker.

OK: I haven't seen 1 or 2, so diving straight in with Witchouse 3 maybe isn't the best approach.

The downside:

The plot doesn't make a lot of sense - it isn't REALLY horror, or suspense

* Brinke Stevens has nothing to do apart from trying to look menacing * Debbie Rochon's character is far too "guarded", you don't really get under her skin and find out what she's about until very late in the film, making most of her appearance seem a bit wooden * Tanya Dempsey's character is not well defined, so again the acting seems lacklustre * Paul Darrigo's character is also poorly defined

So as such, I honestly can't recommend the film at all, except that I feel honour bound to say that Tina Krause demonstrates moments of genuinely good acting abilities, (given the character she has to portray), and what she really lacks most is some decent direction.

(No, I'm not a long standing fan of Krause, in fact I'd never heard of her before watching this film).

I'd honestly like to see her work on a major budget horror film, with someone like Stephen King, to see the extent of her acting ability.

You probably won't suffer by avoiding this film, but watch out for Ms Krause in case she makes the move into big league films!

No pun intended - actually this may be the third one, but it has even less in common with the original than the first sequel (or second movie). That being said, they all have more or less only the title connecting them to each other.

I like the actors in this, they really do their best with as little story as they are getting. Quite cliche, quite predictable .. and completely insane. But it is what it, take it or leave it.