Witchcraft (1988 film)

Last updated
Witchcraft
Witchraft DVD Cover.jpg
DVD cover
Directed byRob Spera
Written byJody Savin
Produced byJerry Feifer
Yoram Barzilai
StarringAnat Topol
Gary Sloan
Mary Shelley
CinematographyJens Sturup
Edited byTony Miller
Music by Randy Miller
Distributed by Simitar Entertainment (USA, DVD)
Release dates
  • November 1988 (1988-11)(United Kingdom)
  • March 2, 1989 (1989-03-02)(United States)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Witchcraft (also known as Witch and Warlock) is a 1988 American supernatural horror film directed by Rob Spera and starring Anat Topol, Gary Sloan, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Stocton, Deborah Scott, Alexander Kirkwood, Lee Kissman and Ross Newton. [1] The screenplay was written by Jody Savin. [1] It is the first film in the Witchcraft series, [2] followed by Witchcraft II: The Temptress .

Contents

Plot

As Grace Churchill is having her baby, disturbing visions flash in her mind that show two witches being burned at the stake. It is later learned that these two people are John and Elizabeth Stockwell, who were burned in the year 1687. The visions seem to stop once her baby, whom she names William, is born. Things get worse when she, her husband, and the baby temporarily move into her mother-in-law’s creepy old house. It’s here that the visions start returning, and all sorts of spooky events start happening around her, including a priest hanging himself in their backyard. Grace discovers that the two witches she saw burned at the stake are her husband and mother-in-law, and they claim William as theirs. As the two try to kill Grace in a Satanic ritual, they are killed by their mute butler, leaving Grace to save William.

Cast

Reception

Although Witchcraft was unsuccessful in theaters, it became the first in the successful Witchcraft series of direct-to-video films. [3] In reviewing the entire series, The A.V. Club called the film a ripoff of Rosemary's Baby , but also called it the best film in the entire series. [4] John Stanley in his Creature Feature book gave the movie two out of five stars. [5]

Home media

The film was released on video in 1988, and re-released October 15, 1997, on DVD.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salem witch trials</span> Legal proceedings in Massachusetts, 1692–1693

The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging. One other man, Giles Corey, died under torture after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail.

Elizabeth Proctor was convicted of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the wife of John Proctor, who was convicted and executed.

<i>Mary Shelleys Frankenstein</i> (film) 1994 film directed by Kenneth Branagh

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a 1994 science fiction horror film directed by Kenneth Branagh who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro portraying Frankenstein's monster, and co-stars Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Richard Briers and Aidan Quinn. Considered the most faithful film adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, despite several differences and additions in plot from the novel, the film follows a medical student named Victor Frankenstein who creates new life in the form of a monster composed of various corpses' body parts.

<i>The City of the Dead</i> (film) 1960 film

The City of the Dead is a 1960 supernatural horror film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee, Venetia Stevenson, Betta St. John, Patricia Jessel and Valentine Dyall. The film marks the directorial debut of Moxey. It was produced in the United Kingdom but set in America, and the British actors were required to speak with North American accents throughout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agatha Harkness</span> Marvel Comics fictional character

Agatha Harkness is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #94. Agatha Harkness is a powerful witch and one of the original witches from the Salem witch trials. The character debuted as the governess of Franklin Richards and as an ally of the Fantastic Four. She trained the Scarlet Witch / Wanda Maximoff in the art of magic. She is the mother of the supervillain Nicholas Scratch. Agatha Harkness has also been a member of the Daughters of Liberty. Initially an elderly woman, she managed to become young again and increased her strength.

<i>Witchcraft II: The Temptress</i> 1990 film directed by Mark Woods

Witchcraft II: The Temptress is a 1990 American horror film directed by Mark Woods and starring Charles Solomon, Delia Sheppard, David Homb, Mia M. Ruiz, Jay Richardson, Cheryl Janecky, Mary Shelley, and Frank Woods. The screenplay was written by Jim Hanson and Sal Manna. The film is a sequel to the 1988 direct-to-video film Witchcraft, and the second film in the Witchcraft series. It is followed by Witchcraft III: The Kiss of Death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bideford witch trial</span> 1682 trial of three women for witchcraft in England

The Bideford witch trial resulted in hangings for witchcraft in England. Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards from the town of Bideford in Devon were tried in 1682 at the Exeter Assizes at Rougemont Castle. Much of the evidence against them was hearsay, although there was a confession by Lloyd, which she did not fully recant even with her execution imminent. These women have been labelled as the last witches to be hanged in England, but there are subsequent cases which are not as well documented.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basque witch trials</span> 17th-century process by the Spanish Inquisition against thousands of alleged witches

The Basque witch trials of the seventeenth century represent the last attempt at rooting out supposed witchcraft from Navarre by the Spanish Inquisition, after a series of episodes erupted during the sixteenth century following the end of military operations in the conquest of Iberian Navarre, until 1524.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials</span>

Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day. The literary and dramatic depictions are discussed in Marion Gibson's Witchcraft Myths in American Culture and see also Bernard Rosenthal's Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692

<i>Love at Stake</i> 1987 film by John Moffitt

Love at Stake is a 1987 American comedy film, directed by John C. Moffitt, based on a screenplay by Lanier Laney and Terry Sweeney. It stars Patrick Cassidy and Kelly Preston, with Barbara Carrera, Bud Cort, Dave Thomas, and Stuart Pankin. Joyce Brothers makes a cameo appearance as herself.

Elizabeth Howe was one of the accused in the Salem witch trials. She was found guilty and executed on July 19, 1692.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samlesbury witches</span> 17th-century English women accused of witchcraft

The Samlesbury witches were three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury – Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley – accused by a 14-year-old girl, Grace Sowerbutts, of practising witchcraft. Their trial at Lancaster Assizes in England on 19 August 1612 was one in a series of witch trials held there over two days, among the most infamous in English history. The trials were unusual for England at that time in two respects: Thomas Potts, the clerk to the court, published the proceedings in his The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster; and the number of the accused found guilty and hanged was unusually high, ten at Lancaster and another at York. All three of the Samlesbury women were acquitted.

Margery Jourdemayne, "the Witch of Eye Next Westminster" was an English woman who was accused of "false belief and witchcraft". She was probably sentenced by a church court; no record survives confirming the charges. Edward Coke later claimed he had seen a document that she was burned De heretico comburendo. She was burned at the stake in Smithfield Market on 27 October 1441.

The Channel Islands Witch Trials were a series of witch trials in the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey between 1562 and 1661.

Grace White Sherwood (1660–1740), called the Witch of Pungo, is the last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witchcraft in Orkney</span> Overview of witch persecution in Orkney, Scotland

Witchcraft in Orkney possibly has its roots in the settlement of Norsemen on the archipelago from the eighth century onwards. Until the early modern period magical powers were accepted as part of the general lifestyle, but witch-hunts began on the mainland of Scotland in about 1550, and the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563 made witchcraft or consultation with witches a crime punishable by death. One of the first Orcadians tried and executed for witchcraft was Allison Balfour, in 1594. Balfour, her elderly husband and two young children, were subjected to severe torture for two days to elicit a confession from her.

Witchcraft is a horror film series, that as of March 2018, has 16 direct to video installments, making it one of the horror genre's longest-running interconnected series. It began in 1988, and most films focus, at least partially, on the character of William Spanner, who is a powerful warlock who fights for good despite having an evil lineage.

Issobell Young was a wife of a tenant farmer residing in the village of East Barns in the parish of Dunbar, Lothian, Scotland. She was tried, strangled, and burned at the stake at Castle Hill, Edinburgh for practising witchcraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Witch trials in England</span>

In England, witch trials were conducted from the 15th century until the 18th century. They are estimated to have resulted in the death of perhaps 500 people, 90 percent of whom were women. The witch hunt was at its most intense stage during the English Civil War (1642–1651) and the Puritan era of the mid-17th century.

Elspeth McEwen or McKewan or Elizabeth MacEwan of Balmaclellan was the most famous convicted witch in Galloway and the last to be burnt at the stake there.

References

  1. 1 2 "Witchcraft Cast, Credits & Awards". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 17 August 2023.[ dead link ]
  2. Clarke Fountain (2014). "Witchcraft". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Archived from the original on 2014-08-14.
  3. Alvarez, Max J. (1994-12-30). "Big Names Look For Bright Lights In Videoland". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  4. Rife, Katie (October 30, 2015). "We dutifully sat through all 13 entries in horror's longest-running franchise". The A.V. Club . Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  5. Stanley, John. 2000. 2nd Edition. "Creature Feature. Berkley Boulevard