Friday Night Frights:The Witches Hammer DVD Review

Project 571 is a government espionage agency that specializes in the supernatural. I know that Agents Mulder and Scully immediately come to mind with the whole X files thing but here is the twist. The agents are genetically altered into vampiric creatures that hunt down and kill similar supernatural creatures such as wizards, demons, witches and vampires. So it’s more of a Hellboy type of setup.

The Witches Hammer opens with Rebecca (Claudia Coulter), a human on the brink of death who is revived and then genetically altered into a vampire by the people behind mysterious Project 571. After she recovers and is trained for combat, the project unleashes their new assassin on a mission to hunt down and obtain the mythical Witches Hammer. A bit misleading in name, this hammer is actually an ancient text that contains a spell to bring the dead back to life. This mission provides many opportunities for fighting and killing as Rebecca forges ahead to gain the hammer and save the world.

Overall the special effects for this one are ok. When I saw Rebecca’s transformation, complete with fangs and bright red face paint, I got a sinking feeling that we were in for some rough effects but that was probably the worst effects sequence in the movie, with the rest being much better executed. The CGI was used in wise doses, with the director not trying to overkill it.

The acting is a bit spotty, with some of the lesser brief roles coming off a bit campy. Claudia Coulter was pretty good in the lead role, as she played Rebecca with a lot of gusto. Stephanie Beacham makes a welcome appearance as a witch at the agency that finds Rebecca and turns her into a night creature.

The Witches Hammer DVD release includes a handful of featurettes as well as a making of and outtakes reel for special features. I did not have access to these at the time of this review so that is about as indepth as I can go on extras.

The Witches Hammer is a low budget supernatural action film that is light on plot but heavy on the fight scenes. The score is solid and although shaky at a few points, the special effects are decent considering the monetary constraints. This one is definitely worth a rental but I would not recommend a blind purchase.

Recommended for Rental

Special Features:

Making of The Witches Hammer
Sound documentary
Music Documentary
Score Featurette
Outtakes
Spanish Subtitles

The Witches Hammer is available now, courtesy of MTI Home Video.