Two knights, disillusioned with the crusades, disobey orders and return to their homeland. On arrival they find the plague has taken hold and superstitious locals believe a witch to be the cause. The knights are coerced into helping escort the witch to face trial, but will they survive the journey?
Historical hokum is the best way to describe Season of the Witch, a horror adventure set during the 14th century with Nicolas Cage miscast as crusader knight Behman, charged with the task of escorting a suspected witch to trial at a distant monastery. This means a mix of hack ‘n’ slash swordplay and supernatural scares. In other words Season of the Witch is a predictable rehash of Hammer Horror movie conventions with added contemporary action scenes.
There are attempts at character depth, Behman’s decision to take up the mission being inspired by his guilt at his accidental killing of a young woman. But it doesn’t add up to much especially considering Cage’s dull performance. At least Ron Perlman is entertaining as fellow crusader Felson; in fact it may have been a better movie with him in the lead role. Alas the supporting cast are pretty forgettable, but their only purpose is to be killed off by their evil prisoner, possibly. It’s apparent that there’s an attempt at ambiguity regards whether or not the woman is a witch, but despite things not being quite as straightforward as they appear the plot could have done with a bit more mystery.
Season of the Witch isn’t interesting enough to be terrible, it’s a mediocre offering that utilises all the trappings of the genre – plague ravaged villages, shadowy dungeons, spooky forests – with none of the style, wit or fun and the plot comes to a predictably FX heavy finale. It appears to be little more than another movie that Cage has probably done for financial reasons alone.
