Witchcraft (1991)

Here we have another flick that is advertised and branded as a sequel for another film, though it has no connections to it whatsoever. "Curse III: Blood Sacrifice" was originally titled "Panga", so I'll be referring to it with the latter title, because it seems more appropriate. In "Panga", the story takes places in the 1950s, and our main character is Elizabeth Armstrong, a sweet American woman living in South Africa, with her husband, Geoff. Elizabeth, who is carrying a baby, seems to have a hard time adjusting to the way of life in South Africa, but she's a genuinely nice gal and she wants to support her hubby, who owns a sugar plantation, so she makes an effort to be positive and manages to get along with the residents just fine. While out one afternoon, Elizabeth and her sister, Cindy (who is visiting for a while) witness a tribe's ritual, in which the natives attempt to sacrifice a goat. Horrified by this, Cindy interrupts the ritual and takes the goat, with the support of Elizabeth and her boyfriend, Robert. Things get really tense between the American bunch and the natives, and the language barrer clearly doesn't contribute. A witch doctor, who seems to be leading the ceremony, starts yelling at the confused American and puts a curse on all of them, which seems like silly hocus pocus, so they don't pay much attention to this. (Stupids!) After this event, those who were involved in the incident begin to get slashed by an unknown figure that carries some sort of machete. In the end, Elizabeth will find herself facing that entity that was summoned by the witch doctor, in order to punish them for disrespecting the ritual."Panga" provides a killer that stalks people with a machete, and said killer seems particularly interested in slashing the sex-crazed youngsters, as he/she/it goes after them first. Does it ring any bells? It should! This flick tries to capitalize on the success of slasher films that came out mostly during the eighties, but it also adds a few original details along the way, to stand out. For instance, our villain seems to be a supernatural entity that lives in the sea and is summoned by someone, rather than the average killer who (inexplicably) rises from the dead to slaughter obnoxious teenagers. Also, this story takes place in the 50s, where certain technological devices weren't available to make things easier for the poor bastards who are being chased by the blood-thirsty creature. On top of that, the events happen in a rural area of South Africa, with a really (really!) heavy storm throughout most of the film, which leaves our poor characters in an utter state of defenselessness. Finally, unlike most slasher flicks, in lieu of a main set of characters composed by randy kids, we get quite an eclectic bunch, which features: a sweet old lady, her granddaughter (who is around 10), an old man, a young American woman and her husband, two horny young adults and a local foreman, who supervises a sugar plantation. Heterogeneous characters is something that I very much appreciate in a genre, like horror, that mostly focuses on obnoxious teenagers or young adults. The movie doesn't really offer an outstanding moment, but the final 20 minutes or so provide a fair amount of tension, with the main characters barricading themselves inside in a big house, in the middle of the country. We do get a final confrontation between the main character and the beast-like killer that stalks them, which is a little bit more on the campy side than anything else (the "less is more" concept would have worked well here). That being said, this film mostly stays on the serious side, while not necessarily being an example of artistic or subtle filmmaking. Though "Panga" isn't memorable by any means, it really is an entertaining and mildly creepy film for the most part and the fact that we have Christopher Lee playing a main character should give the film, at least, some recognition. Oh, well!

In Africa, an English Sugar Cane Plantation owner's pregnant American wife is cursed for her sister's stopping the tribal sacrifice of a goat. Christopher Lee, given obvious star treatment and always a welcome presence as far as this horror fan is concerned, is a raspy-voiced doctor with asthma, Dr. Pearson, who also has ties to the witchdoctor, and attends to the medical needs of his neighboring locals.The ceremony interrupted, the blood sacrifice removed, a summoned monster from the sea might just wreak havoc on them all.I think what works best for a film such as this is the knowledge of possible peril in store for those out of their own environment, with danger lying in wait throughout the African landscape where a killer could appear at any moment. Carefully presented is the culture clash between the outsiders and the Africans. Lee's supporting role is interesting in that he's a wedge between these very different worlds, having garnered relationships with both sides, understanding the customs and beliefs of the tribe with clarity. We actually see him drive into the tribal village to chat with the witchdoctor, developing a mystery as to his intentions. His ambiguous motives do call into question whose side he's on. I thought this film has some good suspense because the plot really builds on the fact that the innocents are outnumbered, in a place home to those that threaten them. The film also introduces English neighbors(..a widower and her granddaughter)who provide shelter to Liz when she needs it the most. Many might find this sort of film a bit racist, I guess, in today's politically correct world.I think the most intense scenes occur when characters find themselves moving through the endless wave of sugar cane fields, the perfect place for a killer to lie in wait. My favorite has this great sense of upending doom as a more and more frightened Elizabeth(Jenilee Harrison) walks through her house delicately searching for her husband, Geoff(Andre Jacobs) who had arrived from a near-death experience, in a state of panic, who is not answering her calls. The crescendo to this really packs a wallop because Elizabeth finds herself in a very difficult scenario with limited options of survival. Poor Liz, did nothing wrong to deserve such rotten circumstances. While the machete makes it's grand appearance throughout(..accompanied by the "whoosh!" sound as it does damage off-screen), there isn't a lot of gore on display. The score really pounds away, effective I think at eating away at the viewer(..or perhaps annoying the hell out of you, which ever you prefer)as a suspense scene culminates. This film would probably be taken more seriously if it weren't part of what many consider a lackluster franchise of unrelated films. At any rate, Curse III:Blood Sacrifice wasn't as bad as I was expecting, in actuality, I kind of enjoyed it.Lee fans, have no fear, even though he doesn't have a large part, he does provide that great monologue as to his history and relationship with the witchdoctor(..always giggling as he looks on from within the deep sugar cane fields).

A group of westerners disrupt a religious ceremony involving a goat that is about to be sacrifice. In doing so it makes the voodoo priest very angry, so he summons a demon to take revenge on those people.This was one very peculiar b-grade film with voodoo/slasher/monster elements, but with those features it's still basically a poor run-of-a mill horror film, that takes itself far to seriously. I haven't watched the first two films, so I don't know if this film relates back to the others.There's not much to recommend- but the saving grace of the film is Christopher Lee, in which he brings some added class. Also the beautifully lush and exquisite African setting / atmosphere makes it a bit bearable.While whenever Lee graced the screen it added some interest- but I can't say the same about the rest of the cast. It was to bad that the main female lead was annoying and stupid, that you wished that the demon would just finish the job. And the bloody demon seems to takes it's sweet time to finish off its victims by dragging out the scenes (especially towards the end). While Christopher Lee and Jenilee Harrison characters had 'SOME' depth, the rest of the supporting cast were too one-dimensional and lack any detail of any sort, by being pretty much stereotypical and waiting for their turn on the chopping block.The special effects were inferior. The demon looked like a stupid rubber lizard from a Godzilla film, while carrying a machete in it's hand just looked bizarre. The movie had some blood and a tad of gore, but still it's minor stuff.The story was very odd one, but it didn't stop it from being quite tiresome in parts and cliché ridden. Really, the characters just got on my nerves… especially the heroine and the dumb little girl (you would know what I mean when you see it). Like I typed early there is a mixture of horror elements: the first half of the film feels like a slasher, as we are to think that somebody from the group is possibly the killer, with red herrings thrown in and we don't see nothing but machete doing the damage. While the second half (the part that lost my interest and boredom followed) plays the heroine being stalked by an unknown creature and she is frantically looking for help. In which case we actually see the menace and I found it incredibly bad and laughable. While, the voodoo element gels the other two together.1.5/5

Much better then you would expect and bearing no relation to the first two films. This film is about a woman interrupting the slaughter of a goat during a sacrifical ceremony. The African tribalsman decides to get even by sending a monster after the woman and anybody that is connected with her. Straight forward horror film with a good amount of atmosphere and scares is well made on a shoestring budget.Rated R; Nudity, Violence, Sexual Situations, and Profanity.