Bad Witch Review: A Magic Infused Buddy Comedy / Drama

Release date: April 27, 2021
Running time: 82 minutes
Directed By: Joshua Land and Victor Fink
Written By: James Hennigan
Starring: Chris Kozlowski, Jackson Trent, Clare Lefebure, and James Hennigan

Xander is a witch whose abuse of black magic has led him to disaster after disaster. After trying to go clean of witchcraft, Xander befriends a young loner, helping Roland with bullies, girlfriends, and other teenage atrocities.

Bad Witch skirts the line between comedy and horror with it falling more on the campy, comedy side.  It was not what I expected as I thought it would be a film that took itself a little too seriously, but the movie is trying to entertain above all.  It deals with magic and a witch in a modern setting and with Xander (Kozlowski) trying to balance his magical abilities with the consequences that come from it.  And when he meets a nice but bullied kid Roland (Trent), he decides to take the kid under his wing.  The fun camaraderie between the two is when the film turns into more of a buddy comedy, and seeing Roland explore magic is a fun experience.  And the movie generally has a good use of practical effects without trying to do too much.  Bad Witch knows a lot of its limits and tries to stay in those lanes.

But Bad Witch does have a limited amount of magic.  As with many indie films, the movie has some forced delivery.  The actors are all fun to watch and some of their characters are over the top (which seems to be the director's preference), making some of the characters and lines are a little much.  Some jokes just didn't work for me, but luckily the inherent humor of some of these character's interactions filled that void.  And the film tries to up the drama in the ending but it just feels like it escalates too quickly.  Although it does lead to a quick wrap up of the story, it felt like it rushed the ending and also tried to introduce extra drama in the end.  The film has a few arcs and I definitely enjoyed the middle, comedy part much more than the dramatic endpoints.  

Bad Witch is not magic, but the campy  teenage comedy / horror film has enough fun characters and entertainment that it might bewitch you.

Rent it.

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Bad Witch is available digitally and on demand on April 27, 2021. 

For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.