Coven (2020)

Coven: Directed by Margaret Malandruccolo. With Lizze Gordon, Jennifer Cipolla, Margot Major, Adam Horner. A group of witches helps one of its own invoke the powers of the ancient demon Ashura. But when the evil spirit possesses the body of one of the girls and her power is released, it’s up to her former coven to stop her before it’s too late.

“Still mourning the loss of her mother, a young girl at a small college town falls in with a group fo witches trying to perform a spell that will release a trapped witchu0026#39;s spirit but when she learns of the true nature of the spell tries to stop a deadly prophecy from coming true.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis was a solid and highly enjoyable genre effort. One of the better features here is the filmsu0026#39; rather enjoyable take on the spells and practices that they go through for their rituals. The opening in the abandoned ruins with the fire pit, repeated mantras and slashing that goes on before the shocking sacrificial act not only provides a nice introduction to things but allows for some solid visual flair to go along with the storyline setups going forward. The later scenes of them not only conducting spells to further their own means but start to prepare for the upcoming rituals and spells shows off their powers and dedications quite well. With their abilities given center-stage at this point, it manages to become incredibly fun in the finale where the double-cross occurs and the true intentions are known. When the ceremony backfires on them and they realize theyu0026#39;ve unknowingly performed another resurrection spell than what they thought, the race to uncover everything and turn to several fun chases and battles between the two different sides of the faction as theyu0026#39;re out creating tons of action and chaos. Given a fine professional gloss and some added sleaze here and there, the film has a lot to like about it. There are some flaws to be had with this one. One of the biggest issues is with the rather bizarre behaviors the coven goes through despite being supposed friends. On several occasions, they cast spells against each other as a form of motivation, constantly berate and put down ideas to further their goal if theyu0026#39;re not performed fast enough and just donu0026#39;t seem to have any kind of friendship chemistry at all beyond all having the same powers and end-game. It very much feels like two separate cliques within the coven rather than all being a part of one unified group which doesnu0026#39;t sit well at all. The other problematic flaw is the weak and chaotic storyline that tends to focus on several intriguing ideas but manages to make for a jumbled setup regardless. The main culprit of this is the shorter running time not giving this one a chance to breathe as it crams in too many storylines that donu0026#39;t have time to get explored, such as the romance angle that is rushed and awkward as well as the continued visits to the occult bookstore for help when the entire thing couldu0026#39;ve been laid out at once instead of jumping around to various characters. Eliminating the useless bar-scenes and then naming better reasons for her to join them wouldu0026#39;ve been just as good, giving this some elements to hold it back.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Violence and Nudity.”