stephenbell-36041 The film starts off well but is completely spoilt by a stupid conclusion. Claire Foy is underused as the "witch" and her part is ignored at the end in a ridiculous finale.

miromoman A serious contender to the tittle of worst film ever. Rancid ridiculous script, poor acting and hilarious special effects.

bowmanblue 'Season of the Witch' – put simply – Lord of the Rings, it is not. It is a (modern) Nicholas Cage film. And, as any die-hard fan (and I'm including myself in that bracket) will know, his modern films don't really rate as highly as those he made in his heyday.Nicholas Cage plays... well, Nicholas Cage in a suit of armour. His natural charm and screen presence do their best to shine through as this time out he and Ron Perlman are knights returning from hacking a few dozen hordes of computer-generated barbarians to death in the Crusades. However, life in yesteryear was never destined to run smoothly and the Black Death only goes and kicks off, leaving thousands dead in whichever 'England-like' land this film is supposed to be set in.Now, you may be forgiven for thinking that a plague of epic proportions has nothing to do with a couple of battle-hardened knights. That's until the king tells them that they're charged with the task of escorting a witch across the land to be burned. Apparently, it's all her fault or something and she totally needs to be roasted in order to save the universe. Or something.Anyway, so begins the quest – the not-at-all-like-Lord-of-the-Rings quest. Nic, Ron and a few meaningless codpiece-wearing extras all trudge wearily across one grassy hill after the next, all the while defending against one computer-generated threat after the next. Um, and that's about it. It's hardly 'epic' – it's pretty much by the numbers. In the scale of things it's not that bad, but then it's not that good either. You can dip in and out of this film at your leisure and you won't really miss a thing.'Season of the Witch' is one of those films which has only one fault: its total and utter 'averageness.' You'll have seen it all before and, despite Nic and Ron doing their very best to raise it above being just another B-movie, they really can't do it with this script, plot or (not so) special effects.If you really love Nic or Ron that much, you may get something out of it. Otherwise, don't really bother. And don't get me started on Nic's haircut.

MARIO GAUCI This was one of Christopher Lee's last movies (hence my uncommon write-up on such a recent title) and, in fact, he only has a few minutes of screen-time – albeit in a pivotal role of the plague-ridden Cardinal who, to make amends for their affront to the Christian faith, entrusts renegade crusaders Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman with the task of transporting a young witch – thought to be the cause of the pestilence – to a remote monastery, housing some obscure tome that is somehow supposed to put things right again. They set out on the danger-fraught journey with a few other characters in tow, including Lee's inexperienced aide – obviously gullible to the girl's wiles – and another man of the cloth, who is more apt to execute her on the spot than offer the expected solace! The film, therefore, falls between two stools – that of the 'revisionist' medieval epic and, once the girl proves not a mere satanic minion but effectively possessed, an effects-laden (if only mildly scary) EXORCIST rip-off! From the opening series of laboriously-if-redundantly annotated battles (ostensibly exposing the ruthlessness of Holy Wars, as well as the bond between our two protagonists), the movie features plenty of tough (yet never too gory) action that spills over even in the scenes dealing with the supernatural (awfully-rendered CGI wolves and, most ludicrously, Perlman – ironically, having twice played Hellboy by this time – head-butting an imposing horned demon!). All in all, though, the film is pretty forgettable (apparently, reshoots were ordered and given to another director but precious little could be salvaged!) and, unsurprisingly, it exhibits little feel for either subject matter or period sense (the two leads' modern style of acting, for instance, coming across as distinctly incongruous). Incidentally, one has to wonder whether the outspoken Lee pulled Cage's ear upon meeting him for not only daring to remake his 1973 'magnum opus' THE WICKER MAN in 2006 but making such an ungodly mess of it