- Directed by Jimmy Drain
- Written by Robert Bieber, Jimmy Drain, Lewis Leslie
- Stars Tony Todd, Vernon Wells, Jimmy Drain
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G0dVP_yxMI
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s an anthology of tales wrapped around witchery and good versus evil. Some of the short stories had no dialogue, which was interesting. Despite top billing, Tony Todd only makes a small appearance, but he’s always good to see. We thought some of the stories were a little on the weak side, but as a whole, it’s a decent piece of work.
Spoilery Synopsis
We are told about a magic dagger that has been sought and fought over for thousands of years. Credits roll.
Nalum goes to the strip club and talks to the other girls working there. We cut to priests talking and praying. The women go into the basement, set up a Ouiji board, and do some kind of spell that opens the Realm of Shadows…
Mallick’s Dreamlady
Mallick walks into a bar and talks to Sarah, the bartender. His friend comes in and wants Mallick to hit on the girl who just came in. Sarah is replaced by a strange new man who says he can make that girl like Mallick, but he needs a strand of her hair. Mallick gets some hair for the guy, who vanishes.
In the morning, Donna, the girl from the bar, comes to his apartment. They have fun, then she stays all day, watching him do laundry and mundane stuff. Mallick figures out that something is wrong and goes back to the bar to ask Sarah about the relief bartender; she says there isn’t one. He and Sarah leave together, and we see the strange bartender there after they leave.
Hike
Mallik and Sarah are now a happy couple, and he has a ring for her. In the morning, she leaves him a note and takes the ring with her. He then goes for a hike in the hills. When he gets home, Sarah is there waiting for him and crying. He wakes up, that was all a dream, so he goes into the other room and proposes to her. (No one speaks in this segment).
Abashed
A woman finds a book of hexes in the bookstore. Her boyfriend reads the Bible and doesn’t want to have sex with her. She uses the hex book to put a spell on him. They get married and she starts doing cocaine. They argue, and she uses her voodoo doll to make him kill himself. No one speaks here either.
The Initiation of Profesor Kimmer
Dan, a new college professor, dreams about a coven of witches. He goes to school and assigns a ten-page essay on the first day (he deserves whatever he gets for this). A girl named Star wants him to read her rough draft. He meets his boss after work, and the man tells him to watch out for sexual harassment. Dan seems to have some history of it.
Dan’s wife is going to a family reunion, but he can’t go with the new job and all. He says he thought they were past her not trusting him alone. He grades essays, and reads Star’s, who has a love letter to him written into hers.
The next day, Star arrives early to talk to Dan. She knows that he’s broken the rules before with his indiscretions. She wants an “A” or else. Oh, and sex. She wants sex too. The new Assistant Dean talks to Dan about Star, and she warns him about Star. Dan talks to a priest about the situation.
Star corners Dan at a party and she’s drugged him somehow. Star is part of the coven, and they use a knife on him. The Assistant Dean comes in and wrestles the witches for the knife. Dan visits his wife, Jamie, in jail later; the Dean and his assistant explains that she was the leader of the coven and this whole thing was a setup.
Cadaver
It’s Halloween, and Peggy calls in to the radio call-in show. We flashback to her doing witchcraft. She reads up on Jon Beedham, the greatest dancer in the world. She practices dancing herself and goes to an audition for one of his shows. She gets pregnant by him, but he soon abandons her. Seven months later, she reads a book on witchcraft and cooks her own baby.
Other than the radio call-in bit in the beginning, no one speaks in this segment either.
Meet Michael
The little girl, Gaylen, has an imaginary friend that her parents can’t see. She says “Michael” lives on the roof and comes in when her parents go to bed. Her mother experiences some strangeness and wants to have the house blessed.
A pair of priests come in to do the blessing. The priest wonders if Gaylen has seen pictures of the Angel Michael, and the parents say no. Later, we see a camera flyover of the house with an angel on the roof.
Fate Upside Down
Father Dudley walks through the park at night and encounters a demon. “What you did was necessary,” he says. The demon gives him the dagger. Dudley talks to Robby and gives him the dagger.
We cut back to Nalum and the witches and Ouija board from the opening. Nalum has poisoned the others, who all fall over dead; she’s got the other dagger. The priests from before call Father Dudley to fight…
The end.
Commentary
The bigger-name stars only appear in the final segment, so don’t come looking for a lot of Tony Todd here. Vernon Wells and Harley Wallen have a very brief after-credit scene. Most of the segments star the director, Jimmy Drain, and he’s pretty bland in every segment. He seems to do a decent job directing, but maybe it would have been stronger to leave the acting to someone else. It was also confusing because he played different roles in different stories but sometimes had the same character name, which made no real sense.
There are several segments with no dialogue, and the music in these is quite good. Actually, I think I liked the “silent” segments better than the ones with dialogue. I think “Cadaver” was probably the best of the bunch.
As Kevin always says with movies like this, “It needed more Mel.”
The wraparound segment didn’t go anywhere, and the ending was more of a cliffhanger than an ending. The stories are on the weak side, but it’s well-made and looks good.