Intensity	Stupidity:Nudity Ratio 4:8	Budget Small

So, no witches at all? Just a slightly effeminate guy who looks like Ronnie Woods in the 70's using voodoo to kill people in exchange for souls. Still, it is a catchy title.

Disclaimer: My initial draft of this review had so many disclaimers throughout that I have revised it to put all of them in one spot. First of all, any comments on the actors is not meant to be a personal attack. When you are in a film that has extensive distribution you are going to be compared to other actors. However, these comparisons are not based on your worth as a human being but rather just on two points; physical attractiveness and acting ability. Also while I am taking Haggerty's filmmaking to task I am not forgetting that he actually made a film and dealt with all the joy and pain that goes along with it. For that alone he deserves a Two Cup rating. Meanwhile, back to the review.

We are immediately introduced to two key characters (unfortunately named Mr. Morgan and Dr. Gorgon). Morgan (Charles Parshley, "Blood Lines" and the uncredited pool boy in "Royal Pains") is asking Gorgon (Phil Lewis of the LA Guns! No wonder he looks like Ronnie Wood!) to help rid him of his unfaithful wife, Delia (Suzi Lorraine, "Spiderbabe", "Satan's Schoolgirls"). After proving his power by burning a pentagram on Morgan's hand, Gorgon dismisses the inquiry about payment with a cryptic comment. Soon, Delia and her lover are dead and Morgan seems to have an airtight alibi; he was out drinking with a buddy. However, Detective Stone (Vic Martino, "Eve's Preyer") suspects that something is amiss. He interviews the bartender, Rose (Playmate and veterinarian Colleen Marie in her only movie appearance) who not only offers up what information she has but immediately falls for the big lug (more on this later). The coroner states that Delia died of drowning despite there being no water found in her lungs or beside the body. Eventually he concludes that it has to be voodoo and soon Detective Stone is convinced that black magic is involved. As the bodies pile up, Stone is given a weapon to defeat Gorgon which he uses at a properly dramatic moment.

First of all let me say that it is pretty easy to see why there are so many negative reviews of this movie. The acting is pretty poor throughout. Vic Martino just is not able to carry off the lead role. Suzi Lorraine and Colleen Marie don't exactly get naked; they both have a nearly identical scene where they walk across the set and put on their underwear without ever facing the camera. Meanwhile several far less attractive women cheerfully strip down and stand around naked. The plot and basic storyline are quite good, someone is using supernatural means to kill people. Dr. Gorgon's motives are a little convoluted. He seems to be collecting souls but during his confrontation with the devil, he just offers up a couple of naked women and not the souls. Dr. Gorgon has the ability to make people do what he wants, so you'd think there would be some other option than death he could offer his clients. Perhaps signing some divorce papers or leaving town. Surely he should have some non-lethal options. Still without murder, we would not have a homicide detective and a coroner involved.

Haggerty did not have much of a special effects budget and yet managed to get a couple of hints of supernatural power on screen. The opening sequence uses editing to provide special effects and providing you are not too under whelmed by the acting of the initial couple of actors, it is pretty effective. Seems like the woman's husband has been sent to jail but has found out about her plans to leave him and marry this other guy. So the husband contracted Dr. Gorgon to deal with the couple. Gorgon has sent his top girl to extract revenge on an unsuspecting couple. As she swipes the air with her hands, we cut back to the actors with fresh blood marks on their face. This is the level of special effects throughout the entire film. It is probably a good decision. Good special effects are very expensive and cheap special effects can cause giggles instead of gasps. By giving the bad guy the ability to kill people from a distance, Haggerty is able to use editing to create a cause and effect. He shows Gorgon twisting the neck on a doll and then cuts to a shot of the victim turning their head and pretending it is broken.

Another financial move he made was to use an "exposition guy". Our hero heads off to the coroner's office to get the autopsy reports. The doctor gives him some rather unbelievable news. Apparently the wife and her lover died from drowning without benefit of water and burning to death without any fire. After watching the detective try to figure out how this could happen for a while, the doctor then goes on to not only suggest that magic might be involved but to also give him the specifics on who and how. In fact, he brings up Gorgon's name and two people who have associations with him. This allows the director to fill in a bit of backstory and to move the story along to the next new character. This brings the detective up to speed with the audience; we already know who the bad guy is and how he is committing the murders. Of course, because magic is involved no one believes the detective. And in the end, no one sees the final confrontation between Gorgon and Stone, so they don't get to see Gorgon's soul being captured by soul box and its subsequent disappearance. Apparently when the soul leaves the body, the body vanishes. All of this is okay and when used correctly allows the movie to flow more smoothly. Using editing to mimic special effects keeps us from laughing at cheap effects. Using an exposition guy is standard in most movies although it gets a little long winded here. Having the bad guy disappear at the end as a result of an action by the hero brings about a sense of finality; it tells us who won the final conflict.

I have to mention the relationship between Rose and Stone. Clearly Haggerty spent some money on getting Suzi Lorraine involved in the project and that was a good choice. Lorraine is a pretty recognizable name in the B movie arena. Whether he did not want to pay her enough to have her take her clothes all the way off or whether she had decided not to even offer that option any more, I don't know. But he also hired a Playboy Playmate who also did not take her clothes all the way off. Lorraine's character is at least matched in age to her husband and lover, but Colleen Marie's Rose ends up with Stone. Perhaps in the director's mind, Stone was going to be played by a younger, more attractive, more fit, more likeable actor. But the first time he got those two in a room together, you'd think he had noticed the problem. I suppose in real life it is possible that a gorgeous young woman could get to know a much, much older, overweight, out of shape, obnoxious cop and fall in love. However, the movie has this happening immediately. As soon as she sees the guy, she hits on him. Apparently they start having sex right away even though she is a key witness in an ongoing murder investigation. To be fair, this happens all the time in movies and Haggerty is not the only director/writer to have paired up ugly old men and beautiful young women. Oh, well, at least Martino did not take his shirt off.

A list of things Haggerty should have done would include better lighting, finding better sets (they are mostly cluttered and crowded), better actors (most of them are clearly friends and Vic Martino is not very effective), clean up the time line of the story and adjust the plot to fit the actors better (particularly in regards to Rose and Stone's relationship). A list of things he did right was to rehearse the actors, there was obviously a clear shooting schedule and a list of planned shots, post production editing was competently handled and the story was pretty good. It is pretty clear that the movie was made by a man who really loves movies and wants to enjoy the process of making movies. Everything is done about right, but not polished. The addition of a couple professionals both in front of and behind the camera might have made a better film.

So is it worth viewing? A very qualified yes. There is a lot wrong with this movie and if you can't see past the errors, don't watch the film. There are a lot of elements of good filmmaking evident and it merits watching as an honest attempt at making a movie. Unfortunately the reasons for watching Witchmaster General amount to damning it with faint praise. Without a tolerance and appreciation of B movies from independent filmmakers, you won't enjoy the film.

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