rafters99 I thought I'd watch Witchville as it did seem interesting as a fantasy film. I would give it 3 stars out of 10. I thought the direction in the movie was lacking and the cinematography was poor. I don't recall seeing any scenes that were shot in a memorable manner. I will admit that the sets were built well and the costumes were decent. The story had promise. A kingdom cursed by witches and a king and his followers trying to set it free. I thought the lead character and most of the other characters were weak actors. In some cases, the weak acting might have been due to poor direction. However, not all of it can be blamed on poor direction. The lead character, the king, lacked screen presence. Often, he delivered lines with a lack of emphasis and his facial expressions didn't always reinforce what he was saying. His character could have expressed a more interesting arc through the film but failed to do so. I felt his 2 friends and the magician delivered better performances than he did. And this in a way is unfortunate as the king gets the most screen time in the film. His sister, the daughter of the Red Queen also delivered a mediocre, unconvincing performance. There were some key scenes where she failed to convince me of the inner turmoil she was experiencing in her decision making. The lead Asian fighter was also not convincing. There were a couple of times where she seemed to be smirking and come to think of it, so would I watching the lame performances that were occurring. The Red Queen herself delivered a good performance and did her best to overcome weak direction. There were key scenes that were botched up such as when the king decides to kill the Red Queen. It dragged on for a while and it demonstrated a lack of direction and proper editing. Finally, at the end of the movie, there is a burial ceremony for the king's friend that takes place. I wondered why there was no burial ceremony for the magician who sacrificed his life as well for the kingdom. At the very end, there is a cheesy scene showing a couple of the witches watching the burial ceremony. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to take from this scene. I certainly didn't spook me or fascinate me and I thought it was rather absurd. I would give the movie 3/10 and not recommend others to watch it.

misbegotten Sword & sorcery movies are usually set during a fabled, bygone age, in mythical kingdoms populated by dragons, wizards, orcs, goblins, elves and the occasional unicorn. However, from late 2009 onwards a new wave of fantasy/action films has emerged, supposedly set in the 'real world' during medieval times, and depicting witchfinders, knights and Crusaders battling against witches and a demon or two. Examples include SOLOMON KANE, DARK RELIC, BLACK DEATH and SEASON OF THE WITCH.Commissioned by the American Syfy channel, WITCHVILLE (awful title) appears to be an attempt to adapt to this new trend, while retaining most of the trappings of more traditional fantasy fare. Prince Malachi (played by Luke Goss) returns to his homeland after several years away, to discover his father the King is dead and the kingdom is stricken with plague, drought and famine. Learning that a coven of witches are responsible for his nation's plight, Malachi joins forces with a crossbow-welding witch-hunter and a band of warrior-thieves to locate and kill the coven's leader, the Red Queen (Sarah Douglas), unaware that he's actually being stalked by the Queen's lethal enforcer Jozefa (MyAnna Buring).WITCHVILLE's storyline contains no surprises and it is clearly a low budget film, but every penny can be seen on screen, with impressively elaborate costumes and weaponry that seem to be inspired by those in the games ASSASSINS' CREED and WORLD OF WARCRAFT. The movie also boasts effective sword-fighting sequences and more-than-competent direction: Jozefa's entrances throughout the film are especially stylishly handled.A common weakness in Syfy Original movies is the quality of the CGI effects failing to match the ambitions of the script, but thankfully that's not the case here. Special effects are mostly limited to the Red Queen and Jozefa hurling balls of energy at opponents, and the biggest CGI setpiece - an attack by hellhounds - is conducted with real flair.The cast all do what's required of them, without any real noteworthy or stand-out performances, although Buring radiates a particularly strong presence as she prowls through the movie like a red-cloaked Angel of Death.In conclusion, WITCHVILLE is a solid and worthwhile, if unremarkable, addition to the sword & sorcery genre.

sramv I wasn't hoping for much but I got even less than that! This 'movie' was not only bad - devoid of any real plot, wit, or meaningful context; lousy special effects; terrible acting; and laughable direction - it was also a throwback to the most simplistic and misogynist view of magic and witches I have seen in ages. At first I thought they were depicting those views in order to turn them on their head but no- that really was the lens of this movie on the world of magic and female power versus civilization. Even the campy stuff wasn't fun because it seemed not to have any sense of humour about itself and how really really bad it was. If you like to watch things that are really really bad in order to laugh at how bad they are, you might find this a treat of some sort. It really is that bad. Did i mention it is bad?

sleeping_gorilla "Prince Malachy returns home from the Crusades and finds the kingdom haunted by a dark force after his father's death." The one talent of this director is he/she was able to make a low budget movie look like it had money behind it. It sports some decent choreographed sword fights, and good looking if repetitive special effects.What this movie lacks, is any sort of story or characterization. The characters have hard to pronounce names and do nothing to drive the action along. Several seem to drop out of the movie with no explanation.Myanna Buring is the one person who stands out in this mess. Unfortunately, like Kristanna Loken in T3, she was given almost nothing to work with.SPOILER The fact that she sets the hero free to defeat the Red Queen makes her the one important character in the movie, WHY she does it is a mystery.Yes I watched the movie, King Malachy is the Evil Queens son and Jozefa is his half sister. Jozefa finds this out, and it's enough for her to turn on her own mother and everything she has known in life up till this point? END SPOILER In short, this movie is boring and soulless, and really not worth watching unless you desperately need to waste 90 minutes of your life.Edit: I would like to add "What do you expect from a Syfy original movie?" Is not an excuse for producing such a low quality film.