"My curse is too heavy, and no one can cure it for me."
Victoria Bell
Cast
Victoria Bell - Anna
Deanna Rashell - Chloe
Lorayn DeLuca - Anna's grandmother, the Witch
Ben Holtzmuller - Nicholas
Julian Brittano - Martin
Norwood Ezzell - Dustin
Vanessa Neff- Aunt Rosie
It seems to me that when it comes to new horror releases, originality is too often scarce. A lot of them seem repetitive and relying heavily on jump scares and grotesqueries. Easy scares, if they work. Nor do many new horror movies strike me as projects of dedication. There have been a fair number of successful and decent movies in the last few years. But I have the impression that horror movies in general are judged pretty hard by audiences.
The upcoming independent horror film, "Heir of the Witch," is unique in that it's not only based on a real event, but the movie is written and directed by the person directly affected by this terrifying familial scenario.
Victoria Bell, a native of Moldova, wrote, directed and stars in her first feature film, "Heir of the Witch." It's based on, as stated on the movie's website, www.heirofthewitch.com/, her "fears, anxieties, and individual experiences."
Her paternal grandmother was a witch whom Bell was told had sold her soul to the devil.
Her family believes her grandmother's soul couldn't die until the "spirit of darkness" released her ghost after she passed her "gift" to another member of the family.
In an interview I had with Bell, which I'll post soon, she said no one in the family knows whom their grandmother passed this "gift" onto as they don't associate with that paternal side for fear of condemnation. And that takes us to "Heir of the Witch."
In this movie, Bell plays a seamstress named Anna, an autobiographical character. Prior to the story immigrated from Moldova when she was a child. She came to the U.S. with her Aunt Rosie (Vanessa Neff) to seek a brighter future away from the dark history of their family.
The film starts as Anna works as a seamstress still haunted by the death of her mother at the hands of her abusive alcoholic father.
Anna is also plagued by the soul of her grandmother, a practicing witch in her lifetime, who torments her long after her death, day and night.
When Anna was a young girl, her grandmother (Lorayn DeLuca) would perform sadistic rituals on Anna while binding her to a chair and keeping her in a dark room.
Anna had killed her grandmother by stabbing her to death with a pair of scissors from a sewing kit. She tempts Anna almost constantly to use powers she cursed her with in order to continue on the dark path she ventured on in her lifetime.
Anna works on a dress for a wealthy and beautiful client, Chloe Hunt (Deanna Rashell). Chloe tries to manipulate Anna into becoming her personal assistant to do her shopping and clean her house. She also invites Anna to a party at her house where she meets Chloe's husband, Nicholas (Ben Holtzmuller).
He and Anna start having an affair, which leads to Anna's pregnancy.
During this time, Nicholas keeps promising to leave Chloe for Anna. Once the town finds out about Anna and Nicholas, he starts distancing himself from her and their unborn baby.
Meanwhile, the spirit of Anna's grandmother continues tormenting her and killing those who attempt to get close to Anna.
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| Victoria Bell as 'Anna' in 'Heir of the Witch.' |
Her grandmother becomes more and more present around Anna, trying to manipulate and control her until Anna can't tell reality from delusion.
For her first feature film, Bell proves she has the talent to tell a daunting horror story that hits the thriller-loving spots.
There is a sad element to the story that while evil can be defeated, it unfortunately has a way of carrying on, doing whatever terrible things it can to torment souls.
It took Bell three and a half years of love, dedication, and hard work, to film and release her movie.
If I have to nit-pick this film, perhaps some of the dialogue could use some polishing. I also have to admit that the story initially felt disjointed and predictable. However, the ending corrected this initial impression. It truly took me by surprise. I didn't see it coming. And it makes up for anything that might be lacking.
For her first feature film, "Heir of the Witch" is a small but gleaming gem within the horror genre. If this indicates anything about Bell's talent and passion, it's that she has nowhere to go but up. Her love for the art of film making and for the horror genre shines clear in this initial film. Bell conveys her character's anguish from such a dark past, and unthinkably heavy burdens that resulted, amazingly well.
Bell brings a lot of energy and convincing emotion to the story making Anna an intriguing and sympathetic to the audience. She is a compelling character. Bell's performance gives the movie a distinct sympathetic tone alongside the horror. It's not all about scaring the audience, although there's a decent amount of that.
The story itself leaves a fog of trepidation especially when considering that such a thing actually happened. And if there's one compliment I could give the movie, it's that the story is thankfully unpredictable.
Family turning on family in such an evil way is disturbing and horrific beyond description.
I look forward to seeing some of her future projects in the genre, including a psychological thriller she's planning called "5."
Bell's first independent horror movie is a quiver fest that doesn't have any dull moments.
"Heir of the Witch" starts streaming everywhere August 4.
I'm including horror movie trivia into my posts now! That's fun, right? Either way, there it is. The answer will be in my next post...
*Answer to the question from my last post, "Renfield" = Joe Hill.
*Answer to the question from my last post, "Renfield" = Joe Hill.
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