Witch's Brew (2011) User Reviews

could've been even more

[Krhhmg · 7/10 · 19 October 2019]

Very nice little indie flick with a - behold! - original comedic story, decent acting and appealing effects. without further ado, it goes straight in medias res after introducing sympathetic characters and unpretentiously setting up the plot frame. settings are nice, but could've been darker and gloomier. what really bothered me were the few but significant offscreen kills. mostly we get to see the full carnage: people spitting buckets of blood, melting faces, intestines all over the place. but some scenes, especially the young punk getting allegedly butchered by poison ivy wielding a machete after it tangled him up in perfect Evil Dead style, just cut off a few seconds too soon. leaving this minor flaw aside, witch's brew offered a fun ride - unlike countless others so-called indie horrors these days.

Fun horror trash

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 1 December 2014]

Jeff Ducker (likable Chris Magorian) and Preston Oakley (the equally engaging Gary-Kayi Fletcher) are a couple of easygoing micro-brewers who accidentally kill a witch's beloved black cat. The witch exacts revenge by placing a curse on our heroes' latest batch of hooch.

Writer/director Chris LaMartina relates the enjoyably inane story at a snappy pace, maintains an amiable tongue-in-cheek tone throughout, and delivers oodles of outrageously tasteless and excessive gore. The cheerfully lowbrow humor might not be sophisticated, but it still manages to be pretty funny in an admittedly dopey sort of way. Moreover, the cast have a ball with the wacky material, with especially lively contributions from Ryan Thomas as rugged bartender Bruce Bartolli, Megan Rippey as Jeff's Wiccan ex-girlfriend Zoe Lambros, and Michael Brecher as belching drunk Bernie Eckhardt. In addition, the actresses playing the witches really sink their teeth into their colorful roles: Helenmary Ball as the venomous Hazel, Lauren Lakis as the foxy Piper, and Virginia House as the homely Hazel. Popping up in neat small parts are Shawn C. Phillips as rowdy party animal Cosmo, Ruby LaRocca as sexy model Biannca, and Gary Graver as wisecracking coroner Frank. The crude make-up f/x possess a certain endearingly rough around the edges charm. Stephan Ruba's sharp cinematography provides a nice bright look. LeMartina's shuddery score and the spirited rock soundtrack keep things bouncing along. Granted, this flick is incredibly silly low-budget trash, but it's hard to dislike a movie that features both a chintzy werewolf and a lethal giant booger.

no hope for independent film

[itrolledyou · 1/10 · 15 May 2013]

*warning may contain spoilers* (although, its not like you don't see everything coming from a mile away) so, i picked up a copy of witches brew after watching an interview with chris lamartina, the films director. he went on in the interview to say how upset he was with independent cinema, and how there's no real emotional depth carried with characters in most horror films. its just gore porn and cash grabs nowadays. i wholeheartedly agreed with chris...until i saw witches brew. it was horrible. witches brew felt like a college film project, where everyone was fed up and no one even tried. there's a scene in the first 5 minutes where one of the witches' is pretending to cut an onion while holding it in the air. the knife doesn't even come close to the onion, its like something out of tim and eric's awesome show. this happens again where, while one of the victims is eating his hands, his mouth doesn't even come close to his fingers, yet we hear slurping sounds along with the typical cheesy fake blood....you don't care for any of the characters. none of the motives in this film makes sense, and the main character is painful to watch. witches brew is basically what the hypocrite director claimed he hated. a cheesy, cash grab gore porn. where most of the budget seems to have been spent on ugly strippers to show tits. it's also funny that, even though this is made to be a cheesy slasher with loads of blood and tits, ALL of the deaths are anti-climactic, boring, and just plain sad. this movie does nothing right. it was painful to get to the ending, and once it was over i felt like something had been taken from me, because it had. my time, and my respect for chris lamartina.

Just simple fun

[dewater · 8/10 · 2 July 2018]

If you like indie horror flicks, a bit over the top, this is for you. No spoilers, just watch it. :)

Only downside: hard to get! Not available worldwide.

DON'T MAKE ME CALL YOUR PARENTS

[nogodnomasters · 8/10 · 26 June 2019]

When two micro-brewers earn the ire of a witch's coven their beer gets cursed. Horrible things happen to those who drink the beer normally involving Troma style effects. That's pretty much it.

This is a low budget film that had some good special effects and make-up as well as very "B" effects and bad rubber masks. The humor was at the low end. For instance a vet in a wheel chair is named "Mr. Walker" who "doesn't stand for a lot of things."

The film is cheesy, the humor corny, and the special effects questionable. An altered state film from start to finish.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. Nudity.