Ever go to a wedding that you didn’t want to go to? In 7 Witches, Kate (Persephone Apostolou: Swallow) had no choice but attend her sister’s wedding on the old military base Fort Gunderson. The wedding, however, does not go as planned, as her new in-laws have a few secrets that are coming to light.
I was so fortunate to get to see 7 Witches before it premiered. The trailer screamed The Witch and The Crucible. The narrative follows the story of the wedding between Kate’s sister, Rose (Danika Golombek), and Aggie Sklar (Megan Hensley: The Crazies 2010). Something is off about the Sklar family. Aggie’s creepy brother, Henry (Rory Ross: Grifters), does not help either. At least we do have some comic relief with Kate’s pot-smoking aunt Paula (Macall Gordon: The Man in High Castle).
The characters of Kate, Aggie and Paula are what I enjoyed most about the film. The scenes in the woods between Aggie and Rose are intimate and even the scene with Cody is awkwardly intimate, even though there was a lot going on. Some sex scenes can play off as hardcore porn but the lighting and the angles of the camera caught something tribal and ritualistic.
Brady Hall (Scrapper) sets the tone for the film as dark and bleak. The backdrop is the North Pacific at an abandoned military base. Hall delivers the first scene in an amber light with a dark background as the Sklar witches are exterminated from their home. Even the score screams creepy and dark. Hall also worked on the music for the film.
Overall, this movie has a good cast, a great story and a awesome setting. Brady Hall perfectly captures the horror of the wedding. The cast provides great tension as well as comic relief. So if you are looking for a film like The Witch and The Crucible, look no further than 7 Witches. The film will have a limited theater release on April 28th. It is being released on DVD by Indican Pictures on May 9th.