TWO WITCHES (REVIEW)
Dir. Pierre Tsigaridis
Reviewer. Ed Hartland
When I think of witches my mind goes to two places; SUSPIRIA and Roald Dahl. TWO WITCHES, the debut feature from Pierre Tsigaridis is definitely more of the former.
Two Witches presents two interlinked stories of witchcraft. An expectant mother is given the evil eye by a creepy looking stranger while at a restaurant with her partner. It’s all downhill from here, especially when the couple take part in a little Ouija Board action with another couple. Meanwhile, tensions grow between a grad school student and her roommate following a violent encounter with a man brought home by the roommate.
The problem with witches in horror films is that they exist, somewhat, in the shadow of SUSPIRIA—and more recently, Robert Eggers’s THE WITCH. I did find myself yearning slightly for some sensory overload brought about by a saturated colour palette and Goblin’s unhinged soundtrack to Dario Argento’s dance school classic. This is hardly the fault of TWO WITCHES, but it’s a little like all zombie films having the obstacle of George A Romeo’s masterpiece to negotiate or slashers having to deal with Halloween.
I’m not here to review SUSPIRIA, but there is something interesting in the comparison. Both films have a shared flaw; consistency. I love SUSPIRIA, but it is wildly inconsistent—saved by the over-the-top visuals and that soundtrack (the plot itself is very slight).
Consistency is the issue with TWO WITCHES as well. Rebekah Kennedy, the linchpin for the interwoven stories, pulls off a very strong performance, but the same can’t be said across the board. Tsigaridis, for the most part, helms a solid and vicious film, but the pacing is a little off. TWO WITCHES has a shared DNA with films like Rosemary’s Baby, but it doesn’t quite pull off the ever-increasing tension that this sort of story requires.
There’s a clear understanding of the genre, but where Two Witches needs to place its claws around your throat and delicately squeeze until you’re gasping for air, it is a little heavy handed and jerky. Visually, I would have loved for TWO WITCHES to lean more into a scuzzy, nasty aesthetic, which is present in the fantastic—quite disturbing—opening sequence. Two Witches is at its best when nasty—more of that, please.
Coming into the Halloween season, TWO WITCHES is going to offer you something a little different. Yes, it’s patchy, but it’s worth a watch for those moments where it lands. It’s not going to blow you away, but it’s not going to leave your witch itch unsatisfied.
