Witchmaster General (2009) - By Brian Morton

Film Reviews: Witchmaster General (2009) - By Brian Morton
Posted on Friday, May 01, 2009 @ 15:56:58 Mountain Daylight Time by Duane

How many times have you wished for revenge on someone? Well, if you're like me, several times a day! That's the theme of Jim Haggerty's new movie, Witchmaster General.

Here's the story: Tom believes that his wife is cheating on him with one of his best friends, and he's finally got proof. Instead of contacting his divorce attorney, Tom heads over to see Dr. Gorgon (played by L.A. Guns' Phil Lewis), a practitioner of the dark arts. Dr. Gorgon tells Tom to be in a public place that evening and his wife and her lover will be dead, and he'll have a water-tight alibi. And, as good as his word, both Tom's wife and her boyfriend are found dead, she's drowned with no sign of water around her and he is burned alive with no scarring left on the body!

Enter Inspector Stone, a hard-boiled detective who doesn't care for mysteries. Stone finds it hard to believe that Tom isn't involved in some way, after all, who else would want these two dead? Soon, Stone is put on the trail of Dr. Gorgon by the coroner (who also dabbles in the dark arts), and it becomes a race to defeat Dr. Gorgon, before Gorgon can kill everyone involved...after all, how can you beat someone who can kill you from miles away?

Witchmaster General is just a good old fashioned drive in movie, and, if you know me, you know that I have a big soft spot for the drive in (insert your own head joke here!). It's not a big budget production, but you can tell that everyone involved is having fun and believes in the movie. Vic Martino who plays Inspector Stone is part tough guy/part romantic lead, he's perfectly cast here are the tough as nails/good as gold cop, but the real scene stealer here is Lewis as Dr. Gorgon! You can tell that Lewis relishes this role and is putting everything he's got into it, and he seems to be having a ball being unrepentantly evil! Jim Haggerty has put together a terrific cast from top to bottom, there's not one weak player in the bunch, and the story, while a bit simplistic, is entertaining and has thematic ties to Haggerty's last movie, Grave Danger...if you want to know how, I'm afraid you'll have to pick them up to find out! I'm giving Jim Haggerty's Witchmaster General three and a half cigars out of four, it's not perfect but it's still damned entertaining! You can get a copy for yourself by clicking over to the Yellow Ape Productions web site.