Just as a big budget does not guarantee a film will be worthwhile, neither does a small budget mean it will be rubbish. This has a small budget, and it is rubbish. We've seen this sort of thing before the 1980s and not infrequently since. Here we have a fairly enigmatic if not mysterious piece of real estate including a pond, and a series of accidents and/or murders that have a clear supernatural connection. The big question is, do we have a plot? Well, sort of. We have a priest who dresses in a rather unpriestly fashion, and a cynical detective who is in no mood to arrest a ghost, but that is about it. And yes, and the old woman who warns of a long dead witch.The script isn't that bad, and there is a fair amount of gore, but once you've said that, you've said it all. Will our valiant priest triumph over the powers of darkness? More to the point, who cares?

A family moves into a condemned New England house where a witch was executed by drowning in the pond on the property. I had never heard of this movie until a few days ago, but it seemed very interesting. Unfortunately, this movie was a big letdown considering the positive things I've read about it. Superstition is basically 90 minutes of bad acting and bad storytelling with some very gory (and surprisingly well crafted) death sequences. There were a few interesting parts of the movie, but they are overshadowed by this poorly executed film. I heard the score was changed, so the one in the version I watched may not have been the original. However, the score was an exact rip-off of The Shining (1980). I feel like I probably gave a rating slightly higher than it deserves, but I can't help but think about how much potential this movie had. I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but if you stumble onto it for free and are bored, go for it.

Superstition (1982) ** (out of 4) Bizarre little film about a house on some church property, which has been the site for countless strange murders. A new Reverend (James Houghton) is helping a family move into the house but more and more bodies begin to pile up so he starts doing some research and discovers that the location is where a witch was killed nearly three-hundred years earlier and now she's back for revenge. Okay, this movie doesn't make a bit of sense and the lackluster direction doesn't help but at the same time this thing is so weird that it's hard not to recommend it to horror fans. While watching the movie you'll think that this is yet another film trying to cash in on the success of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and you'd be correct but the film also tries to mix in with the various slashers out at the time as we get some rather graphic death scenes and some gore. In terms of creepiness you're not going to find any. I'd say the main reason for this is the lackluster direction and Roberson is never able to build up any type of atmosphere and for the most part there's very little to no energy in any of the scenes. The film also doesn't seem to know what it wants to do as the screenplay is pretty much all over the place and leads to one confusing scene after another. In the end not much makes sense outside of the revenge aspect because characters are constantly showing up and disappearing without any rhyme or reason. The gore aspect of the film is an interesting thing because I'm guessing the MPAA were asleep at the wheel or just not paying attention to anything going on here because while films like Friday THE 13TH were cut to shreds by the group, this film here got away with quite a bit. We've got people getting a spike in the head, decapitations, bodies cut in half plus countless other scenes. The special effects aren't the greatest in the world but they're mildly effective. The gore level really doesn't mix with anything else in the film but it at least keeps you awake through some of the most confusing aspects. Houghton turns in a decent performance in the lead with Albert Salmi and Stacy Keach, Sr. doing fine work as well. The mixture of the story and gore doesn't work but it does make the film come off with a weird vibe and mix in the story and you've got a very strange ride. It's not a good film and God knows we've had countless good and bad witch movies but this one here is of interest due to the gore level.

I just found this after TCM ran it, I have to say for low budget they did a great job, watching it at night i did get some goose bumps. of course its low budget, but I think it was done well and the story has lots of twist and a surprise murder, thats not done often on screen. I was pleased with the story and didn't get bored with where it was going like some older film. The only annoying thing was the constant screaming from the characters as the action happened, gets on the nerves after a bit. plus the hands of the witch look really fake. The film ended on a interesting note, not the typical horror ending which I just love. This film is worth checking out.