Bad Witch

Horror films can be very hard to make, and to combine horror with comedy is definetely a challenge. You have to be able to make the combination work, both to please horror fans, and comedy fans as well. Over the years there have been a number of films who have actually done a great job, combining these genres together. Unfortunately, there are a few films that could not make this combination work. A perfect example of this is the 2016 horror comedy Boo! A Madea Halloween. To combine the character Madea Simmons ( played as always by actor Tyler Perry ) into a Halloween film, was not a good idea. Maybe i have a problem with this, since i don´t even think the character Madea is that funny, and to throw her in a horror themed film does not help. The film did well at the box office in America, so they did make some money, but if you are expecting to laugh a lot, you might as well drop your expectations. Boo! A Madea Halloween is a very predictable horror comedy that does not entertain, or offer any fun with the horror ingredients. But let´s bring up a horror comedy that turned out to work really well. And that is the 2004 British horror comedy Shaun Of The Dead. If you love British comedies ( just like myself ), and you love horror films as well, then you have to see Shaun Of The Dead. This is one of those films that will entertain you, no matter how many times you have seen it. This film tells the story of electronic salesman Shaun ( brilliant played by actor Simon Peggs ), who lives in Crouch End, London. His life is not going so well, and he need to find a different direction, to find a way out of misery. He does have his best friend Ed ( Nick Frost ), who he gets drunk with. When they wake up the next day, a zombie apocalypse have overwhelmed London, and none of them are prepared for what´s to come. This is definetely one of my personal favourite horror comedies, and this might be one of the funniest zombie comedies as well. It is not often you see horror comedies get released in these days, but a few titles manage to reach the surface. One example of this is a film called Bad Witch. I have read a few rewviews of this film, but not seen any trailer. So i was curious to see if this would be a film in my taste, since i do enjoy horror comedies. Is this one of the films you should see this fall, or is Bad Witch just as horrible as Mike Lindell´s election evidence?

Xander Perkins ( Chris Kozlowski ) is a witch, who drinks a lot of alcohol, and is having trouble with his personal life. He gets a chance to turn things around, when he meets waitor Roland Grimm ( Jackson Tremt ). Roland, a stereotypical nerd, is the target of relentless bullying by football hero Conrad Miller ( Jonathan Helwig ) and his henchman Hans ( Abe Kim ). Zander will teach Roland about witchcraft, to revenge on his bullies, and win the heart of his crush, Veronica ( Clare Lefebure ). But everything does not go as smooth, as they hoped for.

One of the first thing that strikes me while watching Bad Witch, is that this film have some problems delivering funny moments. It is said to be a horror comedy, but it feels more like a horror film. When you advertise a film to be a combination of 2 different genres, you want the film to be able to please the audience. In the case of Bad Witch, i have a feeling that people will wonder what kind of horror comedy this film was aiming to be. If they were aiming to get the audience laughing, i can tell you right now that this film fails to deliver funny moments. So what about the horror elements? I can´t say that this film have any scary scenes. The idea of the main character being a witch, is not a bad idea itself. The problem is, it does not help this film become a good horror film. To be able to make a film about a witch good, you have to be able to make the plot interesting. There is an interesting story hidden somewhere within Bad Witch, but with so many characters that you can´t feel connected with, it becomes quite hard to see why you should care. Main character Xander Perkins, played by actor Chris Kozlowski, is kind of an asshole. I like the idea behind his character, but it´s not a strong lead character for a film about a witch. But there is one character that i actually feel that this film should have focused on instead, and that is the character known as Roland Grimm, played by actor Jackson Trent. Roland may be a nerd, but you feel sorry for him, since he is not popular and is easily bullied. I actually think it would have been more interesting to see Roland as the main character, since actor Jackson Trent actually makes an effort to make an interesting character. The witch elements in this film do have some fun ideas, but not enough to make this film entertaining. Bad Witch could have been a good film, if some changes were made. As this film stands now, we only get a few scenes that might please fans of independent horror films. Directors Victor Fink and Joshua Land missed the mark to make this a good horror comedy, and they can´t make this a solid horror film either. I can mention a lot of titles that i think you would like more than Bad Witch, so i suggest you skip this one.

Rating: DD