Spellcaster — Spellcaster(Blu Ray)

Spellcaster was directed by award-winning indie film director Rafal Zielinski (Screwballs, Baba, Fun and Ginger Ale Afternoon) and is probably most notable for featuring Adam Ant in a starring role, albeit for about five minutes of the film’s running time.  Other than that, cheapo horror producer/director Charles Band (Parasite, Puppet Master and Trancers) pops up as executive producer, whilst legendary Italian cinematographer and Lucio Fulci’s former director of photography Sergio Salvati (Zombie Flesheaters, The Beyond, City of the Living Dead) was in charge of shooting this Italian set cheese-fest. An interesting bit of trivia, this was one of a succession of films Charles Band made in Italy that were all shot in the castle which he bought on the cheap, perhaps hoping to make it his very own Oakley Court, which had been home to several Hammer classics back in the 60s.

After winning a contest on TV, brother and sister, Tom and Jackie, played by Harold Pruett (Embrace of the Vampire) and Gail O’Grady (She’s Having A Baby, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo) travel to a castle in Italy to take part in a televised treasure hunt that could end up netting them a million dollars. Once there, things start to go awry for all of the competition winners, who begin to fall victim to the castle’s many hidden secrets, some are murdered others altered into mythical demonic beasts. As our unfortunate guests are slowly picked off/mutated by whoever or whatever lurks the corridors, the remaining survivors get ever closer to finding the treasure and solving the mystery of just who is behind this whole thing. The film features some pretty decent monster effects courtesy of SFX gurus William Butler and Michael Deak, however, its budgetary constraints are there for all to see, and whilst it is certainly not the best film ever made, there have been far worse titles with much larger budgets.

Whilst Spellcaster is certainly not a career-defining highlight for any of those involved it remains a reasonably gory, fun time waster. Sadly, Adam Ant only ever turns up sporadically as Diablo and whilst he looks the part, his acting chops are lacking somewhat, while the rest of the cast simply trundle along. The film looks better than it has a right to in its newly restored 2k transfer which brings to life Salvati’s cinematography, which I would suggest is the film’s high point.  The disc features a few extras, there’s an interview with actor Richard Blade who plays the character Rex in the movie, there is also an interview with William Butler and Michael Deak who doubled up as SFX artist and actors on the project as well as a stills gallery.  Vinegar Syndrome have given this forgotten film a new lease of life and whilst it may not be a classic, it deserves to be seen by fans of this type of low budget film, even if only as a curio of its time.