When I saw how terrible this movie was doing with critics and fans alike I decided that I had to see it. I was probably going to see it anyway because for some reason I see most everything Nic Cage is in, and because I really like Ron Perlman. But the reviews were so odd a scathing I really wanted to see for myself what all the abuse was about.
When we are watching movies we tend to judge them a bit based on how we saw them. If we see them in theatre we tend to be a bit more scathing of them. If we rent them we tend to be less judgmental but still a little bit critical. If we, say, watch it on Netflix streaming, most of us can get some enjoyment out of stuff thats actually pretty terrible. The problem is Season of the Witch is a pretty decent and entertaining made for me TV movie. It looks and feel like one of the Sy/Fy channels made for sy/fy movies. This would be a fantastic success if this was in fact a made for TV movie. Unfortunately, its not. This was a mainstream release with with a made for TV special effects budget, that sadly, includes a lot of moments that use special effects.
This movie misfires a bit on a few points. I think most of this problem lies with the direction and the script. I actually thought the story was kind of interesting, not very deep, but a fairly interesting concept, but although the story is interesting, there are just parts of it that have problems. This is supposed to be a period piece. Not like A Knights Tale, which is a period piece that is tongue and cheek and uses modern language, and terminology as part of its charm. This is truly supposed to be set during the Crusades. Yet, they drop modern language (mostly swearing) in ways that truly stick out. It doesn't fit the situations, it feels forced, and mostly it just doesn't make any sense. Nic Cage is emotionless, even more so than usual, but this might be because of the less than inspiring dialogue. Ron Perlman is Ron Perlman. Big, imposing, ugly. Just the way I like him. The supporting cast is in general, sub-par. The one thing I liked visually was the terrifying way in which they portrayed the black death. It was, of course, completely inaccurate, but despite that, I think they did a good job about showing how terrible and terrifying this disease was. The disease makeup was the best part of the effects, and that could be because it was apparently actually makeup instead of CGI designed by some kid in his basement.
The effects really were terrible. I don't want to go into to much detail about it because I would have to give away the plot, and I don't want to do that. Seriously, though. I am not using hyperbole when I say its about the same as late night made for TV science fiction. Actually, probably not as good as some of the stuff I have seen. Its probably about Alien Apocalypse level.
All of that being said, if I was bored at home at had gotten this in from Netflix, I would have enjoyed it well enough, just like I enjoy movies on Sy/Fy, but as a mainstream release this was just, production quality wise, inferior to what it should be.
