The Book of the Witch is a solid indie effort from writer director Joshua Sowden. August (Danny Parker-Lopes) and Victoria (Krishna Smitha) work as overnight security at a cavernous, empty building in downtown Los Angeles. These two are the picture of work wife and husband though they have very different lives outside of their jobs. For instance, Victoria has just suffered the loss of her mother. While August is aware of this tragedy, he isn’t aware of what Victoria is scheming to do in order to never feel the sting of death again. Co-workers can get into the darnedest things, right? Sowden tells an ambitious supernatural story and makes the traditional witch figure scary again with The Book of the Witch. 

The film actually opens on The Witch (Ali Williams) as she is conducting a sort of somnambulist spell on a corpse. Judging from the abandoned house she is conducting her magic and the pervasive Golden Hour lighting, I would land them somewhere in the high desert outside of L.A. Phelan, maybe. The witch opens her book of spells and we witness her bring the dead back to life in order to carry out her bidding. This is when we meet Victoria who celebrates her co-worker, August’s birthday by scaring the crap out of him on the job. Not on purpose of course. It isn’t until later that Victoria begins to experience visions that clue her in on the titular Book of the Witch. Connecting the dots, Victoria believes that if she can gain control of said witch’s book, she can pummel mortality into submission. This requires Victoria to hewn in on the witch and the location of her book. With August en-tow, the two set off into the amber horizon.

Will the witch ever suspect that she is being pursued? Good point. Will August ever tire of his work wife’s eccentric ways? Doubt it. Will Victoria gain victory over death by stealing The Book of the Witch? See the movie and find out.

What I will say is this. The Book of the Witch succeeds in making the conventional image of a witch frightening once more. Williams‘ arthritic, tendril movements as the witch are in and of themselves scary. What seals it is the delivery of cryptic dialogue and the notable hair and make up work. Finally, witches are scary again. We have a lovely villain, which means we need a sympathetic hero. As a character Victoria has a qualifying amount of sympathy and interest. However, it is to Smitha‘s credit that we connect with her on a personal level. Smitha‘s fresh, present performance gives the audience something to hold on to. A grounding, if you will. Furthermore, the chemistry between Smitha‘s Victoria and Parker-Lopes‘ August is a joy to watch.

Joshua Sowden’s The Book of the Witch is a very talented filmmaker finding his way. With Sowden acting as Writer, director, cinematographer, editor, and whatever else, we see an artist coming into his own. Keep going Sowden. We await further nightmares.