Wonderful character development!

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

I actually really enjoyed this. After seeing American Movie, which I loved, I was ready to laugh my way through this, but I was surprised. The writing is good, and it has a surprise ending. I was surprised, anyway. Yes, it's a local film, it's short, it's a B movie featuring a bunch of amateur actors, but if people are going to give summer blockbusters a pass just because they feature big names and have lots of action and whizbang special effects, yet their writing sucks and they use pre-existing franchises as a crutch, then I'm going to give independent movies a pass on the low budget and lesser experience of the actors. I enjoyed it. If Borchardt's next film is as good, I'll be very pleased.

"Coven" is a black-and-white 36-minute short film from 15 years ago. The writer and director is David Borchardt and he combines the world of emotional struggles with the world of supernatural occurrences. A man (played by Borchardt as well) goes through some turmoil and decides to seek professional help, but unfortunately the group he joins are not exactly what he was expecting. This is a really weird movie I must say, script looks like it was written under the influence. I wonder how much Borchardt suffered in real and if there is an autobiographical side attached to it. In any case, I thought this dragged and was not a great watch in my opinion. Not recommended and I cannot say I am surprised that Borchardt didn't manage to build career on this fairly famous short film. I can't see much talent in here.

I first saw "Coven", the actual short film that is the subject of the documentary "American Movie" years ago, probably in a different cut, when or just after the documentary premiered in Chicago in 1999; this review is from the DVD release along with the documentary. I'd almost completely forgotten it, not because it's terrible or anything, but because it's so mediocre. It's obviously heartfelt, and it's really not a horror film despite the marketing - or if it is, it's more of a psychological horror film, with only a little bit of real violence at the end. Mark plays...Mark, a drug addict and alcoholic who wants to turn his life around, and gets involved in a 12-step type group that is obviously Christian in some ways (crosses all over) but also seems to be a cult. Or is it? Is Mark hallucinating the strange things that happen to him at the group meetings, and the "coven" (rhymes with "woven" of course) that at one point drags him through the mud in the woods, at another surrounds his car and beats on it with pipes. There's some interesting material here about addiction and delusion, but it's generally poorly acted and the lighting in the indoor scenes is such that things are often very indistinct, dark and ugly. Some of the outdoor sequences, the landscapes in particular, are rather beautiful. Shot on pretty grainy black and white 16mm.

This short film is a really good representation of AA and other 12 step groups. While AA is not actually a satanic cult; it is a pseudo-religious organization. I was glad to see it shown for what it is. Do not get me wrong. AA serves many people. I just like to see it satirized.Most people seeing this film will be distracted by the poor production values. That is what happens when you have no budget. The story is great and would have been a great film if better financed.My sole opportunity to see this film was on the DVD with "American Movie." I was disappointed to see that the scene in which the head smashed into the cabinet never made it into the final cut of "Coven."