Two Witches (2021)

After its UK premiere at last year's Grimmfest, Pierre Tsigaridis' debut feature gets an extras-packed Blu-ray release from Arrow.

Consisting of two stories which eventually overlap, TWO WITCHES starts with 'The Boogeywoman', in which pregnant Sarah (Belle Adams) is convinced an old woman has given her the evil eye in a restaurant and is now pursuing her. A visit to her husband's new age friends and use of an ouija board means things soon take a turn for the worse. Meanwhile in 'Masha' the titular character is a young woman who will inherit her grandmother's powers when she dies. however, Masha already has a few of her own, and a cruel disposition to go along with them.

TWO WITCHES runs for nearly 100 minutes, but there's only enough real substance here to fill maybe one or two art house shorts. Tsigaridis has an excellent visual eye and there's a decent amount of blood and guts in a film that seems intended to emulate some of the Italian classics by Fulci et al, but by the end the film really does run out of steam, descending into confusion and ending on a note that's as inconclusive as it is frustrating. Add in a sound mix where much of the dialogue is recorded very quietly and the music very loud and the most suspense many will have with this one is whether or not they can get to the volume control in time to avoid upsetting the neighbours.

Modern micro-budget projects like these tend to be packed with extras to give plenty of value and TWO WITCHES is no exception. There are two audio commentaries, one from Pierre Tsigaridis and another from producer Maxine Rancon who both also feature in a Q&A at Grimmfest. There are also interviews with Marina Parodi who plays the old woman in the first story, and composer Gioacchino Marincola as well as Dina Silva who plays one of the new age couple. Finally there's test footage, trailers and image galleries, and if you get the first pressing there's a booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel and a double-sided fold-out poster.

Pierre Tsigaridis' TWO WITCHES is out on Blu-ray from Arrow on Monday 17th October 2022