User Reviews

Something sinister is afoot in the sleepy small town of Harper's Grove. An evil cult abduct young children and sacrifice them to a nasty demon monster. Boozy, burn-out psychic Jack Junaeu (a strong and intense performance by Eric Maurer) decides to help out distraught single mother Sara Smith (nicely played by Tara Nida) after the cult kidnaps Sara's daughter Bobby-Joe (cute Brigitte Vincent). Writer/director John Vincent delivers a potently bleak and brooding fright feature that offers a startlingly harsh no-holds-barred tone (a little baby gets killed by the cult in the first five minutes of the picture!), several well-staged rough'n'tumble fight scenes, and a compellingly creepy and mysterious mood which becomes more progressively grim and unsettling as the story unfolds. The uniformly sound acting from a sturdy cast gives this movie an additional lift: Maurer impresses as the intriguingly flawed and troubled reluctant middle-aged protagonist, Gunnar Hansen makes the most out of a nifty supporting part as private detective Michael Jones, Steve Stenman has a fiendish field day as the wicked Loki, and busty blonde babe Glori-Anne Glibert briefly pops up to do a memorably sick, yet sexy striptease act at a funky club. The spooky score and polished cinematography are both up to par while the surprise bummer conclusion packs one hell of a ferocious gut punch. Best of all, there's no silly obtrusive humor to detract from the severity of the horror; instead this film remains commendably serious and upsetting to the literal bitter end. A cool little flick.

WITCHUNTER is the prequel to VAMPIRELAND, although both movies stand alone. WITCHUNTER is the story of a burnt out private eye (the excellent Eric Maurer) who's hired to find a young woman's missing child.

We find out that he's very good at what he does, but he pays a terrible price for his profession. He's quite a lush. In any event, he heads to quiet little town of Harper's Grove where he soon realizes that things aren't at all what they seem. The town essentially sold its collective soul hundreds of years past when a famine struck. The town sacrificed all of their children to some dark God to survive the winter...

And they've kept sacrificing them ever since.

They do so because they're trying to bring about the end of the world via a cataclysm caused when the moon is hit by a comet in conjunction with the last child being murdered. Trippy stuff, and definitely original.

WITCHUNTER has a grainy, super 8mm film look about it, which actually somehow adds to the realism. It's a well acted movie with Maurer leading the way. Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface from the original Texas CHAINSAW)is cast against type (it might be the only movie he's since CHAINSAW where he doesn't actually weld a chainsaw), and Glori Anne Gilbert does a crazy baby sacrifice/strip tease as the town's minions begin to celebrate the beginning of the end. They must have used 20 gallons of blood for that scene alone...

The music is creepy as hell, and the sum total effect is the same. While this film isn't as polished as some, it is effective. Definitely worth a rental.