Growing up, I would always notice the WITCHCRAFT movies sitting on the shelves of my local video stores. I was intrigued by them and the fact that this horror franchise was steadily pumping out sequels, but I never rented them. It wasn't until 2011 that I spent thirteen weeks viewing my way through the entire series, one installment a week. Yes, there were thirteen WITCHCRAFT movies made, and watching all of them is quite an experience.
Thirteen is an impressive amount of movies for a series to reach. Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, Leatherface, none of those icons have done it. (Although Jason is about to.) It also seems like an obvious number to stop at, and given that it has been seven years since the release of WITCHCRAFT 13: BLOOD OF THE CHOSEN, the longest gap between sequels since the series began in 1988, it had appeared that the erotic horror franchise had reached its end.
Producers Jerry Feifer, the man behind all of the WITCHCRAFT movies, and David Sterling, who previously produced WITCHCRAFT XI: SISTERS IN BLOOD and WITCHCRAFT XII: IN THE LAIR OF THE SERPENT, obviously don't agree with those who hold the opinion that "thirteen is enough". Deciding that the franchise is too good to let it become a thing of the past, Feifer and Sterling are reviving it with not one, not two, but three sequels.
Filmed back-to-back-to-back over a two week period by director David Palmieri, the new additions to the series are WITCHCRAFT 14: ANGEL OF DEATH, WITCHCRAFT 15: BLOOD ROSE, and WITCHCRAFT 16: HOLLYWOOD COVEN.
The sequels star Ryan Cleary as franchise hero Will Spanner and Berna Roberts as his frequent collaborator Detective Lutz. Whether the films will be released separately or as a trilogy pack will be decided once post-production has been completed.
So if you're a horror fan with an interest in the WITCHCRAFT films but haven't checked them out yet, you might want to get started now. When it only takes two weeks to make three new sequels, you can fall way behind very quickly.
Berna Roberts