Witchcraft III: The Kiss of Death (dir. Rachel Feldman, 1991)
William (Charles Solomon) is back, now with the last name of Spanner. Will Spanner has grown from the last film into a hotshot L.A. lawyer who defends the innocent in seemingly hopeless cases. I should perhaps mention that Charles Solomon is a pretty horrible actor. He’s handsome in a hyuk-hyuk sort of way, but he’s hardly charming or intelligent. He’s a ham, this guy, and overacts at every possible opportunity. His acting stands out in this film, because he was out-acted by Delia Sheppard in the last one.
William is defending a hopeless young kid accused of murder, when he runs into a dashing and handsome Lothario named Louis, played by romance book cover model Domonic Luciana in his only acting role. Louis is a soul-sucking incubus who can eat the souls out of the living, and feed them to his girlfriend who is kept immortal by the infusion. Louis and William seem to have a friendly regard, and there’s something most certainly sexual between the two men. The film doesn’t let any sort of male-male attraction be made evident, but the director was clearly having fun with these fellows. That Louis is a mincing and well-kempt aesthete who knows a lot about fashion is probably intended to cast an ambiguous light on his sexuality.
Louis seduces Charlotte, and Will rants a lot. Louise kills one of Will’s rivals as a favor which is, understandably, poorly received. There is a sex scene in a shower. There is a voodoo priest who helps Will. Eventually, Will must do hand-to-hand combat with Louis, and come to terms with his warlock powers. As the film ends, he reunites with Charlotte, and heads out into the world, ready to do more legal justice and kick more warlock butt. This fall on NBC.
Next week, I will be talking about the fourth, fifth, and sixth films in the Witchcraft series. The fourth is the one with Julie Strain. The fifth is the first one that tips into softcore smut and the one wherein Solomon will be replaced by a different actor. The sixth is outright softcore smut. I have more of my own trashy VHS tapes to get through, so be sure to join me on my Witchcraft excursion.
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and co-star of The Trailer Hitch. You can read his weekly articles Trolling, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind. If you want to buy him a gift (and I know you do), you can visit his Amazon Wish List.
