Season of the Witch - Which Witch is Which?

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, violence and disturbing content

Runtime: 95 min

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Foy

I was drawn to this movie because it stars Nicolas Cage and I’m a fan. If I were reviewing this strictly for an adult audience I’d recommend it.  Especially since I was able to watch this one on Netflix direct streaming. 

What I’ve finally boiled it down to is the choice of the parent.  After my initial viewing I wouldn’t let my eleven year old watch it but now that it has set for a few days I might be persuaded to give in. But she would be warned that I think it might be too scary for her. 

We have a rule in our house. Scary movies are not off limits just because they are scary. But if you want to watch it and get scared, don’t come running to me in the middle of the night. 

The movie didn’t have any horrible language that I noticed and no bare bodies or inappropriate behavior in that area, so my only cautions are the potential to cause nightmares and the story does have a religious theme and doesn’t always portray the Christians in a good light.

The opening scene scared me and I’m a little bit older than thirteen. Of course, it’s not a slasher movie and the story was good.  However, the story itself is a bit scary – it wasn’t just the special effects that were frightening.

The movie begins with the hanging of suspected witches. Later that evening a priest returns to read passages over the witches to assure they cannot return from the dead.  This does not turn out so well for the priest.

Then the story moves onto the Crusades and shows a pair of soldiers, Behmen (Nicolas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman) going around and waging war in the name of God.  That is, until Nicholas Cage decides this might not be the right thing to do.

The two desert God’s army only to be later captured and put into a dungeon. They are promised freedom if they will help escort a witch accused of causing the Black Plague to a distant monastery. Once there, she is to get a fair trial, which is all Behmen (Nicolas Cage) wants, fairness.

Will the band get the accused witch to the monastery and if they do, will she still get a fair trial?

That is what I expected of the story but it took a bit of a turn near the end and I enjoyed the ride. Just use caution when deciding to allow someone under fifteen to watch this one.

Reviewed by JC Phelps

The Woman in Black

Rated: PG-13 for thematic material and violence/disturbing images
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, David Burke, Shaun Dooley
Running Time: 1hr, 35 min.

“During afternoon tea, there’s a shift in the air.
A bone-trembling chill that tells you she’s there.
There are those who believe the whole town is cursed.
But the house in the marsh is by far the worst.
What she wants is unknown, but she always comes back.
The specter of darkness.
The woman in black.”

— The Woman in Black trailer, ©2011 CBS Films

My heart was still pounding for a good several minutes after the movie ended.

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a widowed solicitor sent to a remote village in northern England to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman. The townspeople want nothing to do with him once they find out his business there. But why?

Just as he begins to unravel the mystery, tragedy strikes, and the village is forced to acknowledge its terrible fate.

This is a good, old-fashioned Gothic ghost story. Abandoned old mansion. Mysterious deaths. Creepy shadows. The PG-13 rating is spot on. We brought our 12-year-old son, but that is because he is used to scary, Gothic stuff, and we are an Edgar Allan Poe/Tim Burton/Halloween-throughout-the-year sort of family.

There were definitely some tense moments and several things that could haunt a younger child’s psyche for quite some time and cause nightmares. The reason the woman in black comes back to the village could be pretty scary for younger children.

I would say leave the young ones at home, but, by all means, bring your 12+ kids if they enjoy a good scare, and have a frightfully good time.

I know I did.



Reviewed by Karen Berner