INHERIT THE WITCH (2024)

2 stars

BayView Entertainment/Summer Hill Films/TomCat Films. Digital release (US only at the moment). 24th September

Despite being shot in and around the New Forest in Hampshire, INHERIT THE WITCH is currently only releasing in the US (I guess you could use a VPN if you are in the UK, though not sure you should bother with this farrago of a movie)

It starts in 1984, at a dual 14th birthday party for Cory (Max Dimitrov) and his twin sister Jessie (Maddie Crofts). All the family are there to celebrate, eat cake, play Twister. Fiona, Corey’s older sister appears to be uninterested in the proceedings and his half brother Rex is busy videoing.

Pamela (Elizabeth Arends) takes Cory aside: ‘A very special spell for a birthday boy on his very special day’. Rex asks if she is a witch and she tells him, ‘You have a very special destiny Rex’. Cory then opens his present from Pamela – it is something perplexing by the look on his face but we don’t see it. This is how this movie goes – going out of its way not to explain what is going on and leaving the viewer (well, this one at least) often confused as to what is happening.

Cut to present day. The older Rex phones Cory to tell him about the gathering of the family for the reading of their father’s will. Cory is then contacted by Fiona whilst she is cycling in the middle of nowhere. She eventually turns up to where Cory is staying with his boyfriend and there are tensions between the siblings.

Fiona heads to the family home and goes down to the basement – as you would. We get flashbacks with the younger Pamela talking about living forever with the family members following her. It’s all wrapped up with witchcraft with memories bubbling up about what went on in that basement. Something is going on related to their past – though frankly much of the time I had no idea what was occurring…

The dialogue is often stiffly delivered, and much of the acting is veering towards amateurish. It is not helped by the jumbled narrative and characters appearing who you have no clue who they are and how they relate to the scenes from the past (if indeed they do). The whole affair is layered with a poor music score and there is bizarre use of badly framed split screen – blame for the whole mess should be squarely aimed at Cradeux Alexander who wrote the script and directed. Much is made of this being a queer horror in the press release – but the fact there are gay characters featured had little or no bearing on the plot.

End credits has thanks to Coven of Witches, Burley, Hampshire.