Witchouse 3: Demon Fire

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.

Two girlfriends are interested in witchcraft, so one night after their third girlfriend shows up with a bruised eye courtesy of her boyfriend, they hold a mock satanic ritual. Something goes wrong and they wind up conjuring up a 300 year dead witch named Lillith (played by scream queen Brinke Stevens). I've not seen the previous two Witchcraft films so I can't vouche if this one is a step-up or a let down (I really hope its the latter and not the former) compared to those, but I can still judge the film on it's own merits. Nothing really happens until the last half hour or so and when it does it relies on a ridiculous plot twist that took me out of the movie. It DID make me want to see some of the better films that Tina has been in, but not much else.

Eye Candy: Tina Krause gets topless in a shower scene

My Grade: D+

Three attractive drunken girlfriends perform a magical ritual and inadvertently summon Lilith, a female witch played by scream queen Brinke Stevens. A Charles Band Full Moon production on the Film 2000 video label is not usually a good omen, so I certainly didn't have high hopes for Demon Fire. The film obviously is low budget, the plot flimsy and the acting is on the wooden side. However it wasn't actually too bad. Good use is made of it's Californian coastal location, the film has a modest running time so it doesn't drag and although there is very little in the way of gore we do have a gratuitous topless shower scene. Ignore these ridiculous 8+/10 scores, 4/10 from me.

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.

Let me start by saying I am a huge J.R. Bookwalter fan! I have long admired His filmmaking skills. He has, in my opinion, always excelled over the other B movie directors he is often compared to. Proving from OZONE on, He could hold his own with the A movie directors. And with WITCHHOUSE: BLOOD COVEN, I thought he was well on his way to doing so.

That being said, I wish to say I am extremely disappointed with WITCHHOUSE: DEMON FIRE. This movie is a complete step down from what I would expect as a follow-up to his first 35mm film. I would be lying if I didn't say a lot of it had to with the absence of Ariauna Albright.

As much as I admired J.R.'s directing skills, his actors always left a lot to be desired. That was until POLYMORPH. All the acting was good, especially Ariauna. Not only is she easy on the eyes...she can really act! So why is not reprising her role as "Lillith"? I can't say I blame her. "Lillith" was reduced to a cameo. Why would she come back? What I don't understand is, J.R. has a co-writing credit. Why would he write out the villain? What is a Horror movie without a villain? Not to mention I think Ariauna is the best actress he has worked with. It just doesn't make good business sense.

Instead he has chosen to fill his movie with a bunch of "Scream Queens." Could J.R. Bookwalter really be selling out? The one director who has always made movies, not pathetic excuses to show half-naked women (who can't act) sell their goods? If this is so, what future does the Indie world have? Debbie Rachon and whoever the other two actresses are, Are not even sufficient eye candy let alone actresses. I thought J.R. was the one director who was adding substance to the low budget genre.

I can only hope this is a marketing ploy of Full Moon. (T&A sells) and is not J.R.'s decision. Either way, I hope J.R. does not continue to make exploitation films, and goes back to putting actors in his movies.

One final note: I almost hate to mention this (since I love the movie BLOODLETTING) I would suggest Matt Walsh stick to directing instead of writing. I have also noticed a substantial increase in J.R.'s scripts (which I did not make the connection, until this last movie) when someone else writes them. Please come to your senses J.R., do not betray your fans, Talent will always prevail...it just takes longer to prove. Don't sell out. Other aspiring directors look up to you. Please don't resort to sticking nude women in your movies just to make a buck. You are better than this.