SAY A PRAYER FOR THIS ONE
Season of the Witch
*1/2
Review by Kerr Seth Lordygan
At the start of this film, I thought it was actually gonna turn out pretty cool. As far as graphics and effects, it would be a correct assumption. But if you want a film with an interesting plot and performances, look elsewhere.
The beginning was quite fun: hanging alleged witches with disastrous results. Apparently, if a certain prayer from the Book of Solomon isn’t recited after hanging a witch, said witch can come back for revenge. Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman star as buddy soldiers in the fight against non-Christians in the mid 1300‘s. When they are ordered to annihilate women and children, they rebel against the church and walk.
As travelers, they come upon a small town plagued by….well, the plague. An accused witch is being kept prisoner and in order for the two to escape fatal punishment for being traitors, they need to escort the witch to a town whose church possesses the rare Book of Solomon. There, the prayer can be recited and the plague will be lifted… or so they think. But is she really a witch? Or something else altogether?
The most detrimental deterrent in this film is the amateurish variety of dialects. We’ve got some British English, some attempts at British English, some attempts at Standard Stage, some attempts at Standard American and, of course, Nic Cage’s Stoner Californian. Oh and let’s not forget the prisoner merchant guide Hagamar (played by Stephen Graham) speaking in New York Italian! WHAT???!!!! So it’s hard to take the film seriously from the get-go.
Claire Foy as the alleged witch (credited as The Girl) pulled through with a sweet and honest display. And I enjoyed Ulrich Thomsen as Eckhart. And Christopher Lee, well, I didn’t recognize him until the credits because he was covered in “plague,” but he was fine as well. Perlman is charming, as always (“Hellboy”, “Beauty and the Beast” television series, “Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers”…you know, the greats). I like Nicolas Cage….in “Wild at Heart” and “Knowing”, but “Season of the Witch”, not so much.
The demon effects were awesome and looked great on the big screen. Gotta’ be honest though, I woulda been happier with a remake of “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”.
Directed by: Dominic Sena
Release Date: January 7, 2010
Run Time: 95 minutes
Country: USA
Rated: PG-13
Distributor: Relativity Media
OFFICIAL TRAILER
