Two Witches
She sits in the back corner of the restaurant, scowling at the other diners; most of them don’t notice her, enjoying their food and the company they share, but Sarah sees the old woman, convinced that she is the boogeywoman who has put a curse on her, causing sleepless nights and terrifying nightmares which blend into waking horror, Sarah becoming convinced that she glimpses the hag in the distance everywhere she goes…
Christmas break coming up, Rachel is looking forward to spending a few days with her boyfriend Charlie at her mother’s house, and most specifically away from her housemate Masha who is just too much. Bringing home strange men who turn violent was bad enough, but when she tried to offer support and comfort Masha instead started lying to Rachel’s workmates and gaslighting her when challenged…
Separate stories linked by common themes, the women who have it all, or certainly enough, and the women who want to take it from them, the tales of Two Witches as told by director Pierre Tsigaridis which are soon shown to be linked, The Boogeywoman of the first chapter the grandmother of Masha of the second and Sarah and Rachel (Belle Adams and Kristina Klebe) having a mutual friend in Walmart Wiccan Melissa (Dina Silva), ready to reach for that Ouija board to get the inside track on demonic spirits in the neighbourhood.
The production beautifully shot and relying overly on the menacing performances of the titular duo, that somewhat makes up for the shortcomings of the script credited to Klebe, Maxine Rancon and Tsigaridis which substitutes jump scares for drama or atmosphere, the Boogeywoman (Marina Parodi) lurking in every other shot making her next appearance more of an inevitability than a surprise while Sarah’s boyfriend Simon (Ian Michaels) dismisses her emotional cues as hormonal changes during pregnancy.
The longer of the two segments, Masha (Rebekah Kennedy) is determined to Single White Female Sarah and anyone else who gets in her way, mildly inconveniences her or just happens to be around, using her powers less as a means to an unspecified end than simply because she enjoys the cruelty of it then crying victim when challenged, the innocent defenceless waif who needs champions to protect her from the misogyny of her abusive accusers.
The dilemma a complexity which other aspects of Two Witches would have benefitted from to bring the best out of the ideas presented, released on Blu-ray by Arrow their edition of Two Witches is supported by a plethora of features including two separate commentaries from Tsigaridis and Rancon, interviews with Silva, Parodi and composer Gioacchino Marincola, a two-part behind the scenes featurette and post-screening talk with Tsigaridis and Rancon from Grimmfest 2021.
Two Witches will be available on Blu-ray from Arrow from Monday 17th October
