WITCHING HOUR ** U.S.A. 2014 Dir: Ken Comito, Melanie Comito, Victoria King and Josh Spiegel 90 mins
WITCHING HOUR is an anthology based around an ancient religious relic which was made into a clock in the 1940’s to disguise what it really is and the power it holds. It chooses its victims and subjects them to mental torture driving them to commit acts of murder for its own amusement and then moves on to the next unsuspecting person. The clock is purchased by two female housemates and as it slowly takes over one of the girls it tells and shows other stories of its power unfolding within 6 short stories.
All linking quite nicely together the stories flow quickly between each other. Cramming 6 shorts and the main story into 90 minutes has been done well and it makes sense almost the whole way through. The clock features throughout as a constant link with various tales of paranormal activity, devil worship and mind control with an interesting twist at the end which further links all the stories together which I thought was a good touch. The acting really isn’t great but some are better then others and I really didn’t find any of the stories scary as such even though they did try. I have to say my favourite short was titled THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT where a father hired a creepy clown to surprise his daughter on her birthday with interesting results. Due to its budget the effects are minimal but all are practical and fun, whilst some of the props and masks are not great they don’t feature much but again are great to see in a kind of nostalgic way.
Review by Sarah Budd