Witchcraft 15: Blood Rose (2016)

"And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I'll say it clear
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I've traveled each and every highway
But more, much more than this
I . . . . watched the Witchcraft series."

I can almost taste the bittersweet victory as I approach this self-imposed finish line. This is the penultimate entry in the Witchcraft series (so far) and if I have made it this far then you can be damn sure that I will drag myself, crying and bleeding, to the very end.

Following on from the last movie, this film sees Rose (Molly Dougherty) returning, as well as Sharon (Noel VanBrocklin), Tara (Zamra Dollskin), Will Spanner (Ryan Cleary), Lutz (Berna Roberts), and Garner (Leroy Castanon). Rose finds herself in trouble this time when her body is being used by another witch who wants to kill others and steal their souls.

Written this time by Sean Abley, this takes the logical step after the almost-bearable last instalment by creating a storyline that is nonsensical, boring, and almost completely inept. Or do I mean inane? Incompetent?

Director David Pamieri matches the script, doing absolutely nothing to freshen things up after the previous film. It's a bad sign that, despite the usual short runtime, the first 5 minutes or so consists of footage recycled from the finale of Witchcraft 14: Angel Of Death. Pamieri does nothing, he doesn't even make the smallest effort, to cover the deficiencies in the script.

Dougherty does better here than she did the last time around but she is, sadly, the only one. Perhaps both movies were filmed over a few days and this was her best. VanBrocklin and Dollskin are both quite bad, Roberts and Castanon feel like they have less time to shine (and I use the word "shine" in the loosest sense), and Cleary remains one of the worst people to have portrayed Will Spanner in the whole series, which is really saying something.

There's nothing more that can be said about this, a sub-par entry in a film series that limped far beyond what anyone could have expected of it. I doubt anything improves in the next instalment, but the fact that it is, hopefully, the last I will have to watch for some time is enough to make me think I will view it in a slightly better light.

2/10

Buy a good dose of witchcraft here.
Americans can get their witchy woo on here.