Superstition (1985)

"Superstition" centers on a witch quite literally in cahoots with Satan himself being drowned in a pond in 1692. Immediately after, the church nearby burns down and the town finds itself in the throes of a curse. Fast forward to the 1980s, and a reverend has moved into the house on the property with his family, and the witch isn't having any of it.Long on my "must watch" list, "Superstition" is a middling haunted house flick, and an unusually violent one. The opening scene has a group of prankster teens getting filleted (and microwaved!) while dinking around inside the old abandoned house, and there are some practical special effects that are especially convincing. As the narrative unfolds, the modern family moves into the abandoned house, complete with Reverend and wife, their teenage daughters, and younger son, and a malevolent force begins to tear the family apart, both figuratively and literally. There is unfortunately not a lot of tension to be had here, and that is one of the film's central problems.In terms of aesthetics, it doesn't feel like a low budget production in spite of the fact that it is; that said, the cinematography at times recalls the flatness of a made-for-TV movie, and it would almost seem to be made for the small screen if it weren't for the fact that it's gratuitously violent. Although the film is set in New England, the production took place in California, and it shows— attempts to give the film a Northeastern ambiance are ultimately ineffective. Heavy strokes of Mario Bava's opening scene in "Black Sunday" during the film's witch flashbacks is also a bit too procedural to be engaging.The performances here range from solid to hammy, but there is an equilibrium amongst the cast that makes the performances work overall. As I mentioned before, the special effects in the film are really impressive, especially given the time period in which the film was made. The finale has an explosion of wild witchery smattering across the screen, and I have to give the film props for having the gall to kill off a prepubescent child— you don't see many films go there! Overall, "Superstition" is a surprisingly in-your-face horror flick that suffers from some fundamental flaws, yet has enough going for it in the weight of special effects to make it worthy of a viewing. The plot mixes several sub-genres into a somewhat underwhelming cocktail of witchery and supernatural slashing, and while there is a certain dullness to the cinematography and establishment of atmosphere, there is just enough to lightly please us genre fans who have seen it all. 5/10.

Brought to us by producer Ed Carlin and co-producers Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, who gave us haunted house horrors The Evil and The Changeling, Superstition is yet another supernatural offering set in and around a creepy old property. This time around, the spooky shenanigans are accompanied by a whole handful of creative, bloody deaths, and lots of jump scares (probably in an attempt to draw in the slasher crowd)—a good job since the plot is an often illogical mish-mash of hoary old horror clichés.In 1692, a witch is executed—drowned in a pond, and trapped there with a crucifix. For almost three hundred years, the evil woman's spirit is the cause of violent deaths in and around the nearby church-owned property. When Reverand George Leahy (Larry Pennell) and his family move into the old house, the witch soon starts to cause trouble, now even more powerful thanks to the removal of the crucifix during the dredging of the pond. Reverand David Thompson (James Houghton) discovers the truth behind the killings and tries to put an end to the witch once and for all.The film opens in terrific style with a juicy double death scene: having played a prank on a courting couple (thereby providing the film with the first of many jump scares), a pair of pranksters meet their fate in the creepy property, one being decapitated, his severed head exploding inside a microwave oven, the other getting chopped in two by a sash window. Several other macabre set-pieces follow in quick succession, including the hanging of an electrician in an elevator shaft and the death of a priest, a circular saw blade spinning into his chest and exiting through his back.Also adding to the fun: Sheryl and Ann (Maylo McCaslin and Heidi Bohay), sexy teenage daughters of Reverand Leahy, going down to the pond for a spot of fun in the sun (wearing bikinis, naturally), only for one of them to be grabbed around the ankle by a severed hand; a flashback to the trial of the witch that allows for some silly Exorcist style guttural utterings, a few cool facial bladder effects, and the sight of a priest being crushed in a wine press; some memorable visuals with impressive lighting effects (somewhat reminiscent of Argento); Reverand Thompson's surprised expression every time he uses the crucifix to open (or blow up) a locked door; George having his face lacerated by flying shards of glass from an exploding mirror; Sheryl getting nailed through the head with a big spike; and blonde daughter Ann (Heidi Bohay) running around in skimpy silk night-gear.

A family moves into a condemned New England house where a witch was executed by drowning in the pond on the property. I had never heard of this movie until a few days ago, but it seemed very interesting. Unfortunately, this movie was a big letdown considering the positive things I've read about it. Superstition is basically 90 minutes of bad acting and bad storytelling with some very gory (and surprisingly well crafted) death sequences. There were a few interesting parts of the movie, but they are overshadowed by this poorly executed film. I heard the score was changed, so the one in the version I watched may not have been the original. However, the score was an exact rip-off of The Shining (1980). I feel like I probably gave a rating slightly higher than it deserves, but I can't help but think about how much potential this movie had. I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but if you stumble onto it for free and are bored, go for it.

***SPOILERS** Nowhere as effective as it was back in 1982 when it was first released, in being banned in countries like the UK, "Supersition' still gives off a number of jolts to its audience in that almost everyone in the film ends up suffering a gruesome death by the time it's over.The standard horror movie plot has to do with this creepy old house that was involved some 300 years ago in the execution-by drowning-of its owner accused witch and Satanist Elondra Sharack. Over the years anyone who lived in the Sharack house who wasn't a Sharack family member met a horrific death. Now with a new Reverend-Rev. Thompson-in town looking to disprove that the Sharack House is haunted by the Devil him or herself the horrors that were dormant there for so long came back! And came back with a vengeance.Afer a few horrific deaths in and around the Sharack House were then brought back to olden times-the summer of 1692-to when the house got cursed by it's owner Elowdra Sharack who was declared a witch by the local priest Pike. After Elowdra's execution Pike and the townspeople who participated in it started to get second thoughts about what they did. That's because most of them ended up getting mysteriously killed with Pike's church being burned down moments after Elowdra's execution! As time went on anyone who lived in the Sharack House ended up meeting a terrifying death there with the exception of Elowdra's most recent descendant Elvira and her mute and brain damaged son Arien who were immune from her curse.***SPOILERS*** Playing with fire Rev. Thompson had the Leahy family headed by Rev. John move into the Sharack House until he could find them a permanent place to stay in town. If Rev. Thompson didn't know it at the time he soon found out that by having the Leahys move into the cursed Sharack House he in fact condemned them to death!One of the goriest and blood splattered horror flicks to come out in the 1980's "Superstition" also had one of the most effective exorcism scene in it, conducted by Rev. Pike on Elonda Sharack, that was far more convincing and believable, with the dubbing perfectly matching Elonda's lips, then even in the the movie " The Exorist" itself!