Director: Elle Callahan
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Witchcraft
Plot:
Living in a frustrating society, a woman trying to keep her witchcraft powers a secret following pressure from those around her to put them away for good, forcing her to come to terms with her heritage to save others like her who are going through the same fate as she is.
Review:
Overall, this was a frustrating, if still somewhat enjoyable, genre effort. Among the biggest features here is the initially enjoyable setup involving this kind of dystopian universe that affects numerous other people like her. The starting point of introducing a near-Fascist state that tends to prosecute anyone who they deem to be practitioners of witchcraft, whether a genuine article or not, sets this up to be a rather sympathetic turn when we realize that the propaganda of the state trying to push them down is affecting her trying to grow up and looking to rebel. The fact that it goes to these lengths in a short amount of time, immediately setting up the type of universe here in short order, and how they have to avoid detection with the different types of sneak tactics that are designed to keep them safe while avoiding detection on their journey, offers a strong central politically-charged idea by tying it into modern prejudices and snap judgments that manages to give this a gripping enough setup.
Outside of this, the film doesn’t offer as much as it seems to think, with a lot of beats intended to help enhance this intriguing setup either missing entirely or just not that interesting when played out in full. The society here focuses on how others view witches and see the punishment doled out to them as being worthwhile and justified, but the whole thing is based on a viewpoint of these death squads hunting them down in a manner that has little backstory or meaning behind it. This kind of mindset needs more time to develop instead of being dropped into with little foresight or history to help explore the ideas presented, as it feels immensely intriguing but ultimately hollow and difficult to connect with. That isn’t helped at all by the extremely bland and dull pace, where it never really jumps out with any kind of overtly exciting action or spectacle that shows off how much of a threat they actually are, which helps provide this with more obvious genre fare, lowering this one overall.
Overview: **/5
A potentially intriguing if ultimately disappointing genre effort, this one has some likable factors to it, even though it’s ultimately undone by a series of flaws that hold it down. Those with an interest in this style of genre fare or who are fine with the issues present will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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