Season of the Witch (2011)

The movie starts with a priest commanding 3 women to confess and repent of their allegiance to the dark lord, Satan. They all claim innocence and even after they confess, the priest still has them hanged off of a bridge. The bodies are then dumped into the water. Later, the priest pulls up the bodies so he can do the 'spiritual' incantation over their bodies and send their evils souls to hell before they can exact revenge. But he's not quick enough and is killed by one of the women, who magically burns his Bible and is miraculously not dead.

Then the movie jumps to the adventures of Behmen (Nicholas Cage) and Felson (Ron Perlman), two 14th-Century crusaders who eventually, after some gruesome battles, become disillusioned with their quest and go home to Hungary. On their return, they discover that it has been devastated by the Black Plague. Sorcery is named the cause, and the church has caught the witch responsible. The church commands the two knights to transport the accused witch, known only as The Girl (Claire Foy), to a remote abbey, where monks guard a crumbling ancient tome containing the only known incantation that can exorcise her. In return, they will receive a full pardon for their desertion. Behman agrees, intent on getting The Girl a fair trial.

Joining them are a priest, Debelzaq (Stephen Campbell Moore); a grieving knight, Eckhart (Ulrich Thomsen), whose family has died; a disgraced itinerant, Hagamar (Stephen Graham); and a headstrong youth, Kay (Robert Sheehan), who dreams of becoming a knight. Throughout their journey, the girl begs Behmen to free her, claiming that she is innocent and the priest is in fact covering up his lascivious behavior. People begin dying by 'plausible' means, like a wolf attack, all the while bickering over whether she is a witch or not. When the embattled party finally arrives at the abbey, a horrific discovery jeopardizes Behman's pledge to ensure The Girl's fair treatment, and pits them against an inexplicably powerful and destructive force.

What I liked:

• The overcast quality of the film. Visually it's very nice; it adds to mood and overall feel of the events.
• Claire Foy's portrayal of a victim of religious zealotism and hypocrisy, rather than someone who was actually a witch.
• The idea of someone accused of witchcraft and the mystery of whether or not it was true, or merely politically motivated.
• It used the word "engird."

What I didn't like:

• The gore, just there for shock value and to try to make the movie suspenseful. Had a queasy stomach when I watched it and things were really disgusting. Gross looking black plague victims, there for shock value. Gore by the witch, shock value. Violence by the accused witch, shock value.
• The soundtrack. It's supposed to enhance the events, the mood, the tension. Most of the time I found it really distracting.
• That supernatural things really were happening. The hung, drowned witch bursting out of the water, setting a Bible on fire with just a thought. The Girl running with amazing speed. A man magically seeing his daughter and hearing her voice. Demonically possessed wolves who come after she howls. Lame. Disappointing, because the premise, the question of her innocence, that could have made a really good movie, especially if things would happen that could be explained, rather than obviously done through magic. Like her pulling up the altar boy from falling to his death with one hand. That could be explained by adrenaline. But no, no such luck.
• The actual explanation of what was happening. She wasn't communing with the dark lord. Instead, she was demon possessed. Really?
• Even the special effects were lame.

It had some decent quotes:

• She sees the weakness that lies in our hearts. And what she sees there, she will use against us.
• We believe what we want to believe.
• Honor is not a thing to be dismissed or forgotten. A vow must be fulfilled or it is not vow at all. Even at the cost of your life? Even then.

But most of it I found cliche and without any type of suspense. By the third act, when they reached the Abbey, I could care less what happened to any of them. Nicholas Cage was over-acting, over-emoting, and Ron Perlman... well, when he sacrifices himself for his friend, let's just say it was predictable and not at all moving.

The rationale behind everything -- the demon's quest to get the Key of Solomon, the magical book filled with holy rituals used to defeat evil -- is completely moronic if you think about it for two seconds. The plague from the demon is able to kill all the monks at the abbey. The demon is then able to possess the monks bodies so that they can defy gravity and scramble across the ceiling. If this were true, why would it physically need to go to the abbey? Couldn't he have just made one of the possessed dead monks *bring* him the book? Why does he need to possess a girl to do it? And even if he did, why couldn't he have just gone incognito, in the girl's body, to the abbey, snuck in and stolen the book, since he can sure make her move quickly and defy gravity? The demon claims that the "accursed book has tormented [him] over the centuries," and yet this was the best he could come up with, getting caught and brought to the abbey. Why not possess someone from the church and be invited in, or do the rules for vampires not apply here?

Overall, this is a movie I would recommend skipping.

Rating: 4/10

Related links:
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes, which gave it a 10% rotten rating.