I love this movie so much

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The Satan-worshipping killer of nubile women in the Louisiana bayou sets his sights on a sexy psychic there to investigate the murders; she's a "sensitive" whose grandmother was a witch, and Luther the Berserk wants to bring her into his coven (which he pronouns "cove-in"). Second (and final) film for writer-director William O. Brown opens with a brutal murder scene (the female victim is attacked from behind, marked with a symbol, hung upside from a tree and slashed, her bright red blood dripping into a bucket). Unfortunately, Brown doesn't have anything of interest to follow up his grisly opening--it may have been enough to help get him funding, but what happened to Acts II and III? Apart from the 'spooky' music, amateurish makeup effects and awkward performances, there's not a whole helluva lot happening here. * from ****

THE LEGEND OF WITCH HOLLOW is a cheap and cheerful US horror flick about witchcraft in the dark swamps. It has a local, amateurish feel which works well in its favour I think, and the witchcraft antics are certainly more authentic than as depicted in the likes of Ted V. Mikels's BLOOD ORGY OF THE SHE DEVILS. There are faults here, mostly in the overacting from the villain characters who get way too much screen time, but at other times this is surprisingly decent.The best thing about this film? The setting. This really was filmed in Louisiana and you just can't fake those kind of locations, as Walter Hill found out when he made his exemplary SOUTHERN COMFORT. There are some memorable interludes along the way, includes hints at the kind of elements that would dominate the genre a few years later, with the most talked-about bit being the topless girl running in slow motion through the woods. If you can get over the mannered acting, dated fashions, and overacting, you might well find this an atmospheric little chiller.

I am definitely giving this movie another chance, IF it ever receives a proper DVD release complete with restored sound and polished up picture quality. I couldn't really enjoy my viewing of "The Witchmaker", but most likely that was due to the questionable quality of the VHS-rip rather than the actual movie. I found myself staring at a black screen most of the time, yet in between all the vagueness it was obvious that this movie is worthwhile enough to deserve a decent DVD edition. Unfortunately that still doesn't mean it's a great film. "The Witchmaker" is merely a hodgepodge of good conceptual ideas, outstanding locations & scenery, ominous atmospheres and genuinely spooky images, but sadly the script is massively incoherent and several of the plot's details aren't elaborated to the fullest. The main trump is undoubtedly the grisly swamp setting! I used to think the British countryside had a monopoly on forming the ideal setting for stories about witchcraft and devil-worshiping ("Blood on Satan's Claw" and "The Witchfinder General" are two prime examples), but that was before I saw the same story set in the Louisianan bayou region! The area looks as good as impenetrable and feels genuinely inescapable and isolated. At a certain point in the story, the remaining survivor characters desperately want to get out the swamp – and who could blame them – but it simply isn't possibly because their cabin is only reachable by boat and the boatman one passes by per week. Even in remote rural Britain they didn't have that problem! Several beautiful young girls have been murdered in the Bayou over the last few years, and the macabre modus operandi leads to suspect there's a coven witches active in the area. The corpses are hung upside down from a tree and there are eerie symbols painted on their naked bodies. The murders are indeed the work of a dude named Luther the Berserk, a master of Sabbath, who needs the women's blood for his occult rituals. Alvy Moore plays paranormal detective Ralph Hayes who travels to the area to research the murders. One of the expedition members tagging along is the indescribably beautiful Thordis Brandt and her character is the granddaughter of an actual witch! Hayes dragged her aboard because she's more sensitive to paranormal activity, but Luther also notices her talents and promptly sets up a plan to recruit her as his own witch. Okay, we have a splendid setting, a plot with the utmost potential AND a number of disturbing moments (I swear, the sights of those naked and smeared girls' bodies are positively unnerving), so what's the problem? I'm really not sure, but fact is that "The Witchmaker" doesn't quite live up to its own potential. The suspense building is too often undercut by seemingly endless psychologist conversations and occult gibberish. The film is just too talkative and, like another reviewer stated already, the characters drink way too much coffee, which is probably the reason why they keep talking and talking and talking! The first twenty minutes (up until Brandt's semi-topless run through the swamp) as well the finale are pure fascinating horror stuff, but it's difficult to stay focused throughout the tedious and uneventful middle section. Nonetheless, "The Witchmaker" is a very interesting American witchcraft/Satanist movie and honestly deserves to be slightly more known among genre fanatics.

All right.So, there is some satanic rituals going on in the bayou. Alvy Moore(from GREEN ACRES, and also one of this film's producers) and his group are investigating into this Deep South hell, and its RACE WITH THE DEVIL time.I have a somewhat trimmed version of this film, but despite this, I enjoyed WITCHMAKER emmensly. It has blood, nudity, and some pretty intense scenes. In a sense, it is what all drive-in films should be, entertaining. I'll be getting the DVD version, once they put it out. And I definitely won't be buying that wimpy BLAIR WITCH flick. WITCHMAKER is the real deal.