Witchtrap (1989)

 

Kevin Tenney wisely stuck to directing as he was mighty stiff as Devon Lauder, hiring security personnel and a paranormal team to hopefully "cleanse" a bed and breakfast haunted by the evil spirit of a warlock named Avery Lauter (J.P. Luebsen). Linnea Quigley had quick work (I wonder if she was even on set more than a day) as a videographer for Judy Tatum's team, getting a shower (of course) after setting up equipment in the house, dropping all those clothes, totally naked, taking a showerhead to the throat. And, just like that, Quigley's time in the film was done. When I watched Witchtrap the first time, after Quigley dies, I immediately responded out loud, "That's it?!" On Tubi, the cover of the film has Quigley's face, so I could see how plenty of folks itching to see her would find Witchtrap as misleading. But I can't blame the distributors for wanting to capitalize on Quigley's stardom in that particular era. James W Quinn as the star of the film, a beleaguered, jaded cop with a foul attitude and mouth, seems to be an odd choice as hero. He's most often snarling when he rips into practically every character, and nary a remark of his isn't laced with some sort of acid, meant to serve as a verbal punch. I'd have rather seen his partner, Levi (Clyde Talley II), survive the film instead of having his head ran over by a runaway car with an accelerator possessed by Avery Lauter. That head explosion caused by Avery while possessing Felix (Rob Zapple) was a doozy, and the van goes up real good when Hal Havins' Elwin (an associate of Avery's) inteferes with Quinn's Vincente's attempt to leave the premises. The weirdest sequence could very well be Whitney (Kathleen Bailey) supposedly leaving the property, getting into a car, nearly hitting a semi (believing it was Avery), and making it to a police station, only to walk right back into the Lauter house, with Vincente startled by her return. The idea of Whitney as the host Avery needs to occupy in order to resurface and live again eternal left me rather quizzical...it is quite absurd, but Tenney (who wrote this script) plays it serious. I think the serious approach (or perhaps I missed the tongue-in-cheek, though the crude dialogue might be a signifier) might bring some unintended laughs. I guess, though, if you go back to "Night of the Demons", that film didn't exactly have dialogue or characters all that developed and intellectually realized as profound or thought-provoking. These films are designed for entertainment, with too much zany nonsense to really process much beyond the eyeroll and giggle. I've seen my share of 80s junk, I really have. I have to believe most who just want nothing to do with this kind of content are wiser than I am to avoid the likes of Witchtrap like the plague. I guess I am caught in the web forever, always embracing the venom, injected into my 80s loving veins. 2/5

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 "I'm going to eat your soul just as I ate my own ashes."

I do believe one character is called a neander-fuck in this lesser Tenney flick.

From my IMDb user comments of April 2010:

A team is assembled, granted access to a haunted Gothic mansion so that they can cure it of a ghost which might've caused the suicide of a famous magician. Agnes'(Judy Tatum) team (..including her mental medium husband, physical medium, and videographer), and three detectives assigned to protect them will find danger as Avery Lauter has gained access to our world, walking about as a spirit with the plan to gain immortality if his heart and ashes are rejoined in a Satanic ceremony.

Tempers flare as increasing worry over safety and evacuating before the possibility of further violence might occur(one victim is stabbed in the throat by a shower rod!)splits the group in the desire to remain.

Whitney(Kathleen Bailey), the physical medium(who emerged from a near death experience with the ability), suffers violent body shocks thanks to Lauter, who wishes to use her as a doorway into our world for good, her resistance holding him somewhat at bay. Felix(Rob Zapple), the mental medium, nearly dies while channeling Lauter while he was allowed to speak to the group through him. Detective Vicente(James W Quinn) is an unbeliever who finds his assignment a serious waste of time, and would prefer to be elsewhere. Vincente was roped into this assignment by his boss, Frank Murphy(Jack W Thompson)who threatened to not only fire him but his friend/partner, Jackson(Clyde Talley II)as well.

The dialogue("I just seen our friend down there take more lead than a number two pencil")and performances(lots of shouting and harsh verbally heated exchanges) are more than a bit crude, but there are plenty of supernatural kill sequences which should leave a smile on the faces of gorehounds such as the aforementioned showerhead throat stab, a head explosion(Lauter could not allow a medium to inform the others of the hiding place of the urn containing his ashes), a bullet firing into the forehead on it's own(with the back of the skull spraying blood across the wall), and a victim pinned against a gate by a car operating without a mortal driver. Our cast must look out for flying weapons such as an ax and shovel, not mention a hostile groundsman possessed by a demon. Fans of melting effects do see a victim's body deteriorate(the face and hands)although it looks pretty much like a wax sculpture withering into skeletal remains. Hal Havins is Elwin, the groundskeeper who gives Vincente a hell of a problem, since he's in possession of a firearm, and especially after a very exhausting altercation in the basement. JP Luebsen is Avery Lauter, the evil spirit causing all the grief to those in his home. Linnea Quigley provides her slobbering admirers(like me)full frontal nudity before entering a shower, but is wasted in a nothing role, which is too bad

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