House of the Witch

7/5/2018

**_This is one wicked frickin' witch (with a mind-blowingly artistic close)_** College teens in a Kentucky town set out to play a Halloween prank at the local "haunted" dilapidated mansion, but things go awry when the youths find themselves trapped in a life-or-death situation. Despite the TV-budget and no-name cast, "House of the Witch, aka "The Wiccan" (2017) is a competent, austere haunted house flick with, believe it or not, moments of nigh greatness. The basic plot has been around forever, as illustrated in those cheap 50's horror comics. Unlike the lowkey (and overrated) "The Blair Witch Project" (1999), the ghostly witch is shown on several occasions and she's quite formidable (although the smoke effects are sometimes dubious; still, they're effective). Her seemingly malev