Superstition
 Rufus  rates it:    Community rates it: (no ratings yet)
   140 of 293 readers found this review helpful.

What is it about kids wanting to "make out" in front of a creepy, haunted house? If your looking for excitement then you can always just do the "parents in the next room" trick. That always got the blood pumping. Superstition is a lost 80s horror film, and like many of the period this is how this movie starts out. Bad hair and polo shirt, a woman in some short, short shorts sitting in a car getting the jump scare prank. Oh, how I miss 80s horror. While not a classic by any means I absolutely love that Anchor Bay keeps releasing forgotten movies.

Again, this is how the movie begins. Turns out the little jump scare was done by those "jock" types. Unfortunately for them, the house is truly haunted. One kid finds out when his head is put into a microwave and the other finds out while trying to climb out of a window. The movie starts out with a blood soaked bang.

Said house is owned by the local church. A new young priest David (James Houghton) plans to fix up the house for an incoming family to stay at while new to town. The retiring priest (Stacy Keach Sr.) believes that the house needs to be exorcised first. Good call, but a little late because he soon bites it. Turns out that years ago a witch was killed by the locals and a priest. She vowed revenge, and she is a woman that keeps her word. Now, even though the house is haunted she can only come out at night due to a large cross placed in a homemade lake out back. Well, the new priest finds the cross and takes it, unleashing the witch to attack and be free in both night and day. Not too bright if you ask me.

With people disappearing the priest and local officials believe it to be the work of the old cliché, warning spouting caretaker's son. After a few supernatural deaths though they realize it is much more than that.

What starts out as a blast to the past kind of movie, drags heavily in the middle. There is a back story explaining the priest and the witch, which worked but took away from the family in the house. Also, the inventive money-shot deaths from the beginning tend to stop and we are left with a witch throwing people around like a professional wrestler and only seeing after math kills. The climatic ending also left me slightly cold. It seemed that no one new how to end it, so it just ended. While the ending faltered heavily this movie is still one that I would suggest for those fans of out of print classic horror. The extras are practically nil, other than a trailer, but as a fan of 80s horror I had a good time with this one and recommend checking it out if you come across it.

Order from Amazon.com!

Added:  Monday, October 09, 2006
[ Did you find this review helpful?  Yes  No ]
[ Back to reviews index ]

Want to comment on this review?
Register here for a free user account, and you'll be able to.