Saw 'House of the Witch' because the concept was an interesting one and the cover/poster and advertising were cool. Also have a general appreciation for horror. Despite being intrigued, part of me was rather apprehensive watching 'House of the Witch' as well.

Especially when the rating was quite low, which from personal experience recently has not been a good sign. Most of my recent low-budget viewings with low rating and mediocre to terrible reviews have been as bad and in some cases even worse. But went with my gut instinct and saw 'House of the Witch' anyway because it did seem like it would be one of my better recent low-budget viewings. And it actually was, far from perfect and the potential is not completely lived up to but in no way is it completely wasted.

Starting with the good things, Vernon Wells is great and generally the main performers were better than average. The music is both quirky and ominous and the direction when the film gets going is assured. 'House of the Witch' had unsettling parts, didn't take itself too seriously while being fun without being too cheesy.

The characters were not as annoying as feared and don't make as many frustrating and illogical decision making like some films seen recently did (this is always also including bigger budget films that were box office successes if variable critically). Parts are creepy and there is are a few fun set pieces. The threat actually has personality and generated creepiness.

Low budget however does show, the film did need a grander and more elaborate setting while the photography can be too claustrophobic and the effects ropy at best. The dialogue has a lot of cheese and awkwardness and the secondary cast are wooden and some of the chemistry bland.

As said, 'House of the Witch' can drag. Some of the second half is silly and on the wrong side of strange with some weird inclusions.

Overall, better than expected though very flawed still. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A group of teens/near teens go party in the local haunted house at Halloween time. Lana (Emily Bader) and Shane (Darren Mann) are the only characters introduced which sets them up as last to go.

They get trapped in the house, even with the door hinges on the inside. Here we get the back story, such as it was, of the witch. There are a number of cliche things that happen, such as eerie photos, old phonograph playing by itself etc. They really didn't develop anything that well into the tale...i.e. script written in haste. "616" was the house number and was the older number for the beast in Revelation. It also adds up to "13."

This is a made for TV tale with near swearing. The quality of the film was good, the plot was basic. This is a decent horror film for kids/teens. Seasoned horror viewers might want to look elsewhere.

OK, it's not great, in fact it's quite poor, but if you're in need of something with a ghost story, this will keep you mildly entertained, until you find something good.

Every cliché you could imagine, think of a poor man's version of The Blair Witch. They've tried to capture a horror tone, but it doesn't quite work.

The special effects aren't particularly good, but I did quite like some of the sets, the room with all of the Witch's equipment looked rather good.

The woman in the coffee shop needed to be in it more.

Poor, 4/10.