The House of Witchcraft is a late 1980s Italian film that bends elements of supernatural mystery, Are-they-going-mad-or-not thriller, and slasher. It features Swiss cult actor Paul Muller (A Virgin Among The Living Dead, Barbwire Dolls) in one of its lead roles. The picture is an entertaining/ campy enough slice of euro horror, though maybe not a gory/wacky as you’d normally hope from the genre/ time.  Here from Cauldron Films is a recent region-free Blu-ray of the film, taking in a new 2K/uncut print of the film, a commentary track from genre experts, and a few other new extras.

The House of Witchcraft (aka La Casa Del Sortilegio) was made in the year 1989. It was helmed by infamous Italian cult director Umberto Lenzi, who over his career he directed sixty-five full-length films, which touched down in most exploitation sub-genres.  Going from Euro spy action drama of  008: Operation Exterminate (1965), onto spaghetti western Pistol for a Hundred Coffins (1968), through to more than a few Giallo such as Seven Blood-Stained Orchids (1972), Spasmo (1974), and Eyeball (1975). He helmed two cannibal films, Eaten Alive (1980), and Cannibal Ferox (1981). And more than a few horror films, such as the fast-moving zombie-focused Nightmare City (1980), spring break-focused slasher Nightmare Beach (1989), and psycho horror of Hitcher In The Dark (1989)

The House of Witchcraft was originally meant to be part of La Case Maledette ( The Houses Of Doom) series, which saw infamous Italian horror directors making TV films- in total, there were four- the other three are The House of clocks directed by Luci Fulci( Zombie, The Beyond, The New York Ripper), The House of Lost Souls also by Lenzi, and lastly The Sweet House Of Horrors also by Fulci (all of these have now been reissued by Cauldron Films )- for one reason or another none of the films where ever shown on TV, but landed up been released on the VHS market.

The one-hour and twenty-six-minute film opens with our lead character, twenty-something Luke Palmer (Andy J. Forest), awaking from what we are told shortly is a recurring nightmare he’s been having. In the dream, he runs down grand garden paths into a large mansion- he runs into the kitchen to find an old, toothy witch (Maria Cumani Quasimodo) picking up his severed head and throwing it in a cauldron.

As a surprise, his stony and stern wife Martha (Sonia Petrovna) decides to take him on a break in the countryside….and you guessed it, it’s the house from his dreams. It’s owned by a shady/ slightly sinister blindman with Alsatian Andrew Manson (Paul Muller) ….and as the film unfolds, we get a selection of characters turning up at the house, and of course, murder and creepy bound encounters.

Over the film's length, we get a head-battering murder of a priest, a few stabbings, and decapitation. There’s the already mentioned witch, but there’s also a female figure drifting along at night in the garden. With some of the wackier elements like sudden inside snow storms, jarring fake owl attacks, and a dipping its paw in blood black cat. The effects are fine enough for the time, though they are not as often as you’d hope/ want, with the whole thing being a bit euro soapy in places. I rather enjoyed the soundtrack by Claudio Simonetti( under the name of Claude King), which moved between off-angle 80’s electronica and proto dark ambient.

I’d say The House of Witchcraft is just fine, but no way as good as Lenzi's other Houses Of Doom film, House of Lost Souls- which was a creative/ wacky example of throw-everything at it horror.

This recent Blu-ray features a classy new 2k scan- this looks wonderful, clear, well-defined, and full of clarity throughout. On the extras side, we get a few extras. First of these is a commentary track from genre experts/ writers Eugenio Ercolani, Nathaniel Thompson, and Troy Howarth. They start off by letting us know it was shot in Tuscany, the main house in the picture was owned by Daria Nicolodi's uncle. We find out this was the first of the four La Case Maledette series to go into production- it was shot between October/November of 1988. All of the films were shot in 16mm with only three weeks of shooting for each. They touch on the only other digital release of film, on Vipco in the early 2000s, which had pretty terrible picture quality. They briefly comment on the appearance of Paul Muller- mentioning other notable films.  We find out the La Case Maledette series was originally planned as a six-film series, with Lamberto Bava being involved, but this, of course, never happened. Later on, they discuss the horror films of Umberto Lenzi, and that his contribution to the genre are from the 80’s- he’s more known in Italy for his crime & adventure films. They point out notable set pieces and much more. Once again, this is another stellar track from these three pros- most certainly something I can see myself returning to.

Otherwise, on the new side, we have two on-film interviews- Artisan of Mayhem(19.26) with FX artist Elio Terribili. The House of Professionals (18.36) with cinematographer Nino Celeste.

So while The House of Witchcraft may not be top drawer late 80s euro horror, it’s entertaining enough, and the film certainly looks great on this new Cauldron Films, with a nice selection of extras.