The Lowdown

Set during the Halloween season, these five tales will take you on a nostalgic trip back to the 80’s!

– “Killer on the Loose” (Ep1)- an escaped killer lurks on the shadows of an isolated home on Halloween night.

– “Princess” (Ep2)- in search of a new beginning, Kendra and her daughter Jaimie movie into a quiet home in the suburbs. But something evil lurks in the basement, and it isn’t looking for roommates.

– “Not Alone” (Ep3)- Upon waking from a horrific nightmare, Kyle struggles to bridge the gap between his dreams and reality.

– “They Live Inside Us” (Ep4)- A writer spends the night in a notoriously haunted house in hope of finding inspiration for his latest project. He soon realizes that he is living in his own horror story.

– “Is That You?” (Ep5)- Confined to her bedroom on Halloween night, Whitney notices an eerie figure lurking outside her home.

The Verdict

First things first, huge thank you to creator, writer, director (jack of all trades really), Michael Ballif for letting me screen this five episode series, I had lots of fun! This series is definitely going into my yearly October rotation, as its very essence SCREAMS to the “witching season”…hence the name!

I first fell in love with The Witching Season upon my first look at that artwork for the series, the classic Halloween motif with creepy house, jack-o-lanterns, trick-or-treaters and wickedly grinning witch front and center of the poster. Artist Marc Shoenbach is a badass when it comes to capturing the spirit of that throwback horror vibe, and I’m always excited to see his work on display. But that’s not all…Slasher Dave rocks out the theme music to the series (listen below to the intro), which adds that 80’s touch that brings it all in, setting up the creepy tone before each segment.

I recently read that the #4 episode, “They Live Inside Us”, is getting expanded to a full feature, so here’s hoping that the entire Witching Season Films crew involved with this series brings that 80’s nostalgia back, it really made this horror fiend giddy for more horrors to devour! Speaking of devouring, viewers of this series will have a variety of creepers to consume; everything from masked slashers to killer possessed dolls, to even those monsters that dwell inside us…you will find a little bit of everything to your liking.

If I had to place my favorites in order, by episode, I would say Ep4 is my favorite as it features a little bit of everything; masked killers, haunting specters and a sense of dread that oozes throughout the story that becomes a character in itself, with it being the longest of the episodes. The character of the writer was given some great development, as you genuinely find yourself invested with him by the end of the feature, great job for a half hour short.

Another of my favorites would be Ep1, as I am a sucker for a masked slasher. This one has a nice mean spirited twist to it, one that i didn’t see coming. I won’t say much more about this one, but I am a huge fan of the comic book series Hack/Slash, and this one reminded me a little of that and of how interesting the slasher genre can still be!

Ep5 was another strong entry in the series, my only complaint is I wished it had been longer, because I really enjoyed the ghoul in it. One of the standout scares for me featured here is a great shot of blurry movement happening behind our main character (as she is looking downstairs), the shadowy ghoul gave great goosebumps!

Ep2 and Ep3 were great too, they were both short and sweet with some killer ideas behind the stories. Ep2 gave me the R.L. Stine vibe, with a classic “one last scare” ending, I loved the mother daughter relationship, well done in such a short time. Ep3 prolly had one of my favorite scares, as the use of a shadowy entity really made me anxious, the confrontation scene was very suspenseful!

Overall, I would highly recommend this series, it has a Tales from the Darkside vibe that drips with 80’s tv/movie nostalgia! It’s not gory or overly bloody, but more thoughtful with how it wants to scare you. Bring on more episodes, after all…The season NEVER ends!

Two Bloody Thumbs