Season of the Witch (2011) Rogue/Action-Adventure-Horror RT: 95 minutes Rated PG-13 (thematic elements, violence, gruesome images, disturbing content, scary moments) Director: Dominic Sena Screenplay: Bragi Schut Music: Atli Orvarsson Cinematography: Amir Mokri Release date: January 7, 2011 (US) Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen, Claire Foy, Robert Sheehan, Christopher Lee. Box Office: $24.8M (US)/$91.6M (World)
Rating: ***
I can’t believe it’s been ten years since the release of Season of the Witch, a goofball sword-and-sorcery flick starring Nicolas Cage (Con Air) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy) as medieval knights charged with taking an alleged witch to a monastery to stand trial for her supposed part in the Black Plague. It stands out in my mind because it’s one of the first titles I reviewed for Movie Guy 24/7. I didn’t have high hopes for it. Not only did it come out during that cinematic wasteland commonly known as January, it was also the first release of the new year, so we’re talking potential double trouble here. Despite all signs indicating a great big stinker, I actually liked Season of the Witch and still do a decade later.
In the prologue (set in 13th century Villach), three women found guilty of witchcraft are executed by hanging and drowning. When the town priest returns later to perform a sacred ritual from the Book of Solomon, one of the dead witches springs back to life, burns the book and kills the priest. The story jumps ahead to the 14th century where we meet Sir Behmen (Cage) and Sir Felson (Perlman), two knights fighting in the Crusades. After witnessing the slaughter of innocent women and children, they decide this is no longer the life for them and desert the Order.
On the way home, they pass through a village heavily affected by the Plague. They’re arrested after somebody recognizes them as deserters. They’re taken to the Cardinal (Lee, The Curse of Frankenstein) who gives them a choice. Either they help escort an accused witch known only as “The Girl” (Foy, Unsane) to a faraway monastery for her trial or face execution for the crime of desertion. She’s blamed for bringing the Plague to the village. If she is indeed a witch, the monks at this monastery can perform a ritual that will supposedly stop the Plague. They’re the only ones who can help as they have the only remaining copy of the Book of Solomon.
Behmen and Felson are joined on their mission by a priest, Debelzaq (Moore, The Bank Job); another knight, Eckhardt (Thomsen, Hitman); young aspiring knight Kay (Sheehan, The Umbrella Academy) and swindler Hagamar (Graham, Snatch) who’s charged with guiding the group through dangerous territory that includes a dark forest.
For all its inherent dumbness, Season of the Witch isn’t all that bad. Sure, it’s corny as hell and abounds with clichés like the obligatory scene of the characters precariously making their way across a rickety old wooden bridge suspended between two high cliffs with raging waters and jagged rocks below. Naturally, they have horses and the cage transporting the girl to add to their woes. I think we all know how this scenario will ultimately play out. Even so, Season of the Witch is pretty entertaining.
It helps that Dominic Sena (Gone in Sixty Seconds) never seems to take the material too seriously. It’s not a somber affair like Black Death or The Seventh Seal even though the director said he was largely inspired by the 1957 Ingmar Bergman classic. He merely touches on austere matters like killing in the name of God and the inherent hypocrisies of organized religion without diving in too deep. He’s more interested in action and special effects. Sena manages a decent blend of action-adventure and horror with some decent special effects. The battle scenes in the introductory montage are decent despite the wild overediting. Some of Season of the Witch is cool in a silly kind of way. To give you an idea of what to expect, there’s an exorcism in the climax.
The acting in Season of the Witch is just about what you’d expect. Cage reins it in a little bit, resisting the urge to devour the scenery like when he’s in bad guy mode (Kiss of Death, Face-Off). He gets off one good line, “No man has spilled more blood in God’s name than I. A benevolent God would not ASK such things of men!” Now imagine Cage saying it in his own inimitable way. He’s clearly having fun here as is co-star Perlman, always a reliable actor. His unconventional looks once again serve him well. Foy, in her first role, does good work as the supposedly bewitched young woman.
Season of the Witch is a B-movie at heart. It doesn’t seek to enlighten the audience about heavy matters associated with the Black Plague. It’s a goofy, giddy popcorn movie that I found myself enjoying against all better judgment. It took me back to when I was a 14YO movie geek obsessed with sword-and-sorcery movies. I sat there liking the swinging swords and dopey dialogue. It’s hardly an art film, but why should it be? It’s all in the spirit of fun.
