![]() ![]() In the commentary Tenney wanted to go back to his film school days and make a film that didn’t involve going through a production company, so he raised the money, banged out a script in six days, and started shooting. What happened? Did Tenney regress as a filmmaker?Įven in his interview Tenney admits when this was being prepped for it’s first ever disc release by Vinegar Syndrome, he had some doubts and admits he’s not all that proud of it, but after seeing it (this is back in 2017 when Vinegar’s disc came out) and revisiting it decades later he admits he’s more proud of it now. About the 20-minute mark I kept thinking this doesn’t feel like a movie done by a director who’s done three movies prior, this feels like a movie by a first time director fresh out of film school. Thankfully, the commentary and Tenney’s interview explains why. The plot is convoluted the acting is bad, which is a genuine shock, because some of the actors in this are from his first two movies and they can act and did so nicely in them and this particular fusion of action and horror didn’t work for me either. I have a lot of low-budget, and no budget, horror flicks memory movies from the 80s, and seeing as this was written and directed by Tenney, a guy who’s first three films I love, especially his first two, I naturally assumed this would be another I’d be a fan of. I know, I know, if you’re a fan, I’m just as shocked as you are. I’m loathe to report this movie did absolutely nothing for me. Just off hand, I’m assuming this new title for its “digital life” is something the director prefers over the one most fans know it as on tape I’ll know for certain once I get to the extras though. The Witchtrap title, however, was still present when it was in it’s analog form of VHS. ![]() This movie was conceived and filmed under the title, The Haunted, but according to IMDB trivia the producers changed it to Witchtrap in hopes audiences would think it was a sequel to Witchboard, which was financially successful. I only got interested in it when this new release spurred me to want to review Tenney’s first two movies. I was never interested in seeing it though, even when boutique distributor Vinegar Syndrome put out their special edition blu some years ago. I’m only familiar with this movie through the various mentions Fangoria has done of it in various articles, most with Tenney, and the VHS review they did in issue #89. Fangoria never covered Witchtrap (1989), but their sister magazine Gorezone did a career spanning interview with Tenney, where he spoke about the movie and that’s about the only coverage I could find. ![]() Normally, I’d have this review on my DVD News Flash: The Reviews blog since this is one of director Kevin Tenney’s films I’ve never seen, but seeing as I’m going to be reviewing hiss first two, now cult classics, Witchboard (1986) and Night Of The Demons (1988), I figured I’d keep ’em all under one roof on this blog here. ![]()
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