Director: Pierre Tsigaridis
Screenplay: Kristina Klebe, Maxime Rancon, Pierre Tsigaridis
Starring: Rebekah Kennedy, Kristina Klebe, Tim Fox, Belle Adams, Dina Silva, Danielle Kennedy, Ian Michaels
Country: United States
Running Time: 98 minutes
Year: 2021
BBFC Certificate: 18
It’s October, Spooky Season, always a great time for horror fans to not only relive old classics but also to check out some new scarefest’s. While we’re eagerly awaiting big budget fare in the cinema such as Smile and Barbarian, there’s always a selection of smaller films on the more boutique labels to tickle our fancy. This year, Arrow is distributing director Pierre Tsigaridis debut horror feature Two Witches, a film that has been eagerly awaited since it’s well received festival showings in 2021.
Two Witches is a peculiar little horror film, seemingly playing out as an anthology but ultimately telling a story about a mysterious coven of witches over two parts. Chapter 1 is called The Boogeywoman and focusses on Sarah (Belle Adams) a young, pregnant woman who’s convinced she’s been cursed by a strange old crone. As a tone setter, this chapter admittedly doesn’t do a consistently great job. While it manages to conjure up a weird, creepy and surreal atmosphere early on, the acting is initially presented as such a mixed bag that it’s easy to tune out from the rather forced and stilted dialogue from Sarah’s friends. Still, Adams carries this chapter as the increasingly paranoid Sarah and Tsigaridis carefully escalates the tension to breaking point before plunging the stories final act into absolute madness with some incredibly grim and dark imagery.
The Boogeywoman also works as an effective calling card for the rest of the film, demonstrating some deft cinematography to hide some excellent scares, as well as very sparing use of CGI in favour of some ghoulish practical effects. This carries over into Chapter 2, Masha, a far more effective story than Chapter 1 which digs more into who our witchy antagonists are. Rebekah Kennedy is the standout here as the titular Masha, an unhinged young witch who’ll stop at nothing to get the power she desires, and it’s refreshing to see the narrative focus on a villainous character. Star of the show, however, has to go to Marina Parodi, credited only as The Boogeywoman and given no dialogue at all in the film. She brings a sense of menace to the proceedings and oozes malice every time she’s on screen, providing the film with some of its most unsettling moments.
Two Witches is certainly an odd film, structurally. The brisk 98 minute run time and “To be continued…” card at the end of the film makes it feel like the first two episodes of a TV series sandwiched together, while the unevenness of Chapter 1 lets down the package as a whole. But as things ramp up in the latter half, Tsigaridis’ slow and methodical camera work, the eerie score from composer Gioacchino Marincola and the grim physical effects manage to create a film that easily gets under the viewers skin. Weird and at times bizarre, it’s perhaps not the complete tour-de-force that fans were hoping for, but it should absolutely be on every horror aficionado’s watch list this Halloween. Here’s hoping that the team can make good on that promise of a continuation!
Bonus Features
- Brand new audio commentary by director, cinematographer and editor Pierre Tsigaridis
- Brand new audio commentary by producer Maxime Rancon
- Behind the Movie, a two-part behind-the-scenes featurette
- Interview with actor and associate producer Dina Silva
- The Boogeywoman, an interview with actor Marina Parodi
- The Original Score, an interview with composer Gioacchino Marincola
- The Piano Score, director Pierre Tsigaridis talks about the inspiration behind the piano score for Two Witches
- Test footage
- Grimmfest 2021 Q&A with Pierre Tsigaridis and Maxime Rancon
- Trailer gallery
- Image gallery accompanied by the film’s original score
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel, plus double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady
While Two Witches will be available to watch as part of their streaming service, Arrow have packed the disc release with a decent amount of bonus features for collectors to get a look behind the making of this dark little film.