Witchouse
WITCHOUSE. 1999
Director: David DeCoteau (as Jack Reed)

WITCHOUSE 2: BLOOD COVEN. 2000
WITCHOUSE 3: DEMON FIRE. 2001
Director: J. R. Bookwalter

Reviewed by Paghat the Ratgirl



WitchouseA young woman (Ashley McKinney) who used to be picked on in highschool has never gotten over it so invites the people she most hates to a party before conjuring an even angrier ancestral spirit for purposes of revenge.

The evil spirit's name is Lilith (Ariauna Albright), the ancient demoness, so she's presumedly a bit more powerful than your average burned-at-the-stake witch's ghost, the main differenced being long teeth.

The story alleges to be taking place in Dunwich, Massachusetts, the mythic town created by H. P. Lovecraft, but there's no other Lovecraft connection.

Throughout Witchouse (1999) surprised party-goers run around in the sealed house getting picked off one by one, then rise up anew as zombie demons. Lilith wasn't quite powerful enough to drum up much in the way of gore FX, as the kills occur off-screen, leaving one to suppose the film's "purpose" is to allow bad actors to speak silily lines. The FX crew does little more than blink some lights to the continuous sound of thunder.

Cheap & ineffective, it's fairly standard formula fare from the low-end of Full Moon's crap factory.


Witchouse 2The cheapo direct-to-video failure Witchouse birthed a bastard sequel & became a franchise, as do all Full Moon features that earn back their original investment of twenty-five cents.

In Witchouse 2: Blood Coven (2000), a babe professor & her students undertake a scientific investigation of the supernatural & before you know it Ariauna Albright possessed by the spirit of Lilith & the students are turned into her killer zombie demon witches.

Lilith is this time something of a plague-demoness whose powers extend a little further than the inside of a house, causing the story to have a slightly bigger feel.

It could be argued this is the best of the three Witchouse films but "best" in this case would be a misleading synonym for "slightly less awful," despite that the budget seems to be even smaller so that the pisspoor videography gets padded out with some "intentionally bad" home movie footage in homage to Blair Witch.

The appearance of Andrew Prine in the cast was unexpected. Though his movie career went in the dumpster more than two decades ago, he was once "almost a star" who ended up a minor character actor for various television series. Compared to the rest of the cast he has a few ounces of screen presence. Too bad they wasted him playing two minor roles instead of a meatier central role.


Witchouse 3Witchouse 3: Demon Fire (2001) tops the Witchouse trilogy like diarrhea on a hot fudge sunday.

Bad cinematography, poor acting, a noisy rarely apropos soundtrack, & mediocre script are not the best ingredients for an effective no-budget direct-to-video horror film.

Two young women (Debbie Rochon & Tina Krause) are making a gothic documentary on black witchcraft. There's a mild charm to their friendship despite the bad acting.

In a goofy ritual assisted by their friend Anne (Tanya Dempsey) who has an abusive boyfriend (Paul Darrigo), they accidentally-on-purpose evoke the vengeful demoness Lilith (played this time by Brinke Stevens). This conjuration will once again prove to be a bad thing for everyone.

The demoness is a deathpunk goth chick with black lipstick & long stick-on nails. The film's entire budget seems to have been blown on the nails.

Annie might be psycho & her boyfriend innocent but it doesn't matter, Lilith gets him anyway. Add in some exploitation girl-fights & it has all quite categorically added up to nothing.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl



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