Witch Story (1989)

At their best, Italian exploitation cinema succeeded in co-opting the tropes of the English-language genre films they were cashing in on and subverting them,often the process resulting in something original, exceeding audience expectations.  Stylish and genre bending, the best of these films easily transcended their source material, creating a unique and distinctive cinematic experience.  But by the late eighties, Italian exploitation had really run out of steam, with the productions barely distinguishable from their (mainly) US progenitors.  Hence, we have Alessandro Capone's 1989 directorial debut Witch Story, (Original title, Streghe, literally Witches in Italian), being passed off in some markets as either a sequel to Superstition (1982) - to which it does bear a resemblance - or, somewhat mystifyingly, Larry Cohen's Wicked Stepmother (1989).  In common with many Italian exploitation pieces of the era, the film is both set in and largely filmed in Florida, with a mainly American cast.  All of which, while giving it more 'authenticity' in its attempts to ape the US product, also robs it of much of the distinctive feel of the best Italian exploitation.  The film's identity crisis extends to its story, which tries to combine elements from several popular horror genres, including the slasher movie, the demonic possesion genre and the haunted house movie.  

The end result is a lacklustre mess, which never finds a style and, rather than subverting the tropes of its models, simply regurgitates them.  It opens with a front lawn witch burning, a curse and a child jumping out a window, then flashes forward fifty odd years to the present, with a teenage brother and sister inheriting the house where it all happened and deciding to spend the summer there with their friends.  What follows is entirely predictable, as various of the teens are possessed by the ghost of the burned witch and stalk and slash the others and the ghost of the little girl keeps appearing to utter enigmatic comments.  Despite being set in a decrepit, run down old house, director Capone fails to create any atmosphere, nor does he bring any originality or style to the various killings, all of which are too well telegraphed to shock or surprise and are flatly filmed, too boot.  The closest thing to originality comes when a possessed girl leaps out from under the water of a pond, a whirring chainsaw in her hands, to dispatch one victim.  For the climax, the film lurches into Exorcist mode, with top-billed Ian Bannen over acting as the elderly priest who has lost his faith - his younger self had unsuccessfully tried to prevent the opening witch burning - but nonetheless waves his crucifix around in order to banish the spirit of the witch.  Just when you think that it is, thankfully, over, we get one of those utterly nonsensical 'twists' just before the end credits.

While Witch Story has a superficial glossiness to its production, it has little substance.  Despite the early promise of witches' curses being brought down on future generations, (a plot device that can yield excellent results, as in 1964's Witchcraft), it quickly degenerates into a generic slasher with supernatural elements, as a cast of indistinguishable and inter changeable teens get chased around an old house.  The supernatural threat is ill defined, the villain underwhelming and its supposedly sympathetic characters insipid and utterly uninvolving.  Overall, the film represents the sad decline of the Italian exploitation industry, particularly when compared to similarly themed films like Argento's Suspiria, made during the industry's peak, lacking completely any sense of style or audacity in terms of plot construction, visuals or characterisation.