BLOOD
OVERALL
BEASTS
BREASTS
Aka: Salem's Ghost, Satan's
Ghost
Director: Joseph John Barmettler
Writer: Joseph John Barmettler
Cast---
Lee Grober ...  Sonny Dunaway
Kim Kopf ...  Mary Ann Dunaway
Tom Overmyer ...  McArthur
David Weills ...  Mitch Baker
Anthoni Stewart ...  Gayle Baker
Jack Valan ...  Simon Renfro / The Warlock (as
Jack van Landingham)
Mai-Lis Holmes ...  Cathy
William Knight ...  Dean Simpson

Runtime: 90 min
WITCHCRAFT VIII: SALEM'S GHOST (1996)

 If you have been keeping up with our trek through the Witchcraft series I congratulate you. You’ve
weathered the nameless horrors and tortures that plague those that dare enter this world of black
magic. These squalid erotic horror pictures are far from over. We know that Will Spanner was killed off in
the seventh film. That hasn’t stopped the curse of Witchcraft from proceeding. Just why more movies got
made is beyond me. Anyway we are more than halfway through and if you tuck in and hold fast we just
might make it. This film was supposed to be a stand alone chapter, not including Spanner at all, and
there were plans for spawning a new saga from Salem’s Ghost. The movie bombed and was quickly
assimilated into the Witchcraft family.

 It’s 1692 in a Salem colony and a hooded procession of monks are busy burning a heavily tattooed
and muscular warlock named Simon Renfro. His charred remains are put  in a crypt and the door is
sealed in place with “Salem’s Cross”, a large jeweled cross with inscribed rubrics  and a bladed end. The
witch hunter of the area had stabbed Renfro in the heart with the cross before burning his body and this
will destroy him again 300 years later when he returns as a ghost. Oh, come on now, that wasn’t a
spoiler. It’s simple plot logic.

 A couple wishing for a new start buy a house in Salem, yes the one with the crypt beneath it that has
remained undisturbed for 300 years. Sonny Dunaway is a college professor and I guess that his wife
Mary Ann is a home maker because she spends most of her time at home being boring. Things start to
move along when their nosy neighborhood plumber Mitch and his wife Gayle welcome them to the area.
One afternoon while Sonny is teaching class in his living room (I don’t know why they don’t use a
classroom in this scene) Mitch sneaks down into the basement, uncovers the crypt and removes the
“Salem’s Cross”. Simon Renfro is now free to perform sexual mischief. I gave this movie a score of 0
beasts for a reason. Renfro is not very menacing even with his muscles and tattoos. I think he barely
knows how to speak English.

 Now it‘s time for the mandatory gratuitous sex scenes which the series is known for. We are treated to
some of the lamest, most benign sex scenes ever. Both couples in the film have sex and Mary Ann
masturbates in the tub. Renfro has ghost sex with Mary Ann and one of Sonny’s students. The heat just
isn’t turned up as much in this film. After Renfro causes the Dunaway’s some nightmares and later
makes the furniture in the house attack them we are introduced to a young witch hunter named
Clarence McArthur. He explains that they have a mighty warlock’s ghost threatening them and that he
will aid in bringing him down.

 Mitch had stolen the “Salem’s Cross” and has locked himself in his room to go crazy. His wife calls the
cops and McArthur retrieves the cross. He performs a pointless ritual with the Dunaways to invoke
Renfro and trap him in a little pyramid box??? I am not sure what the point of that was since it doesn’t
work and McArthur should have known that the only way to kill Renfro was with the “Salem’s Cross”.
Rookie witch hunter mistake or the producers wanted to make the movie ten minutes longer? Then
without warning Renfro kills McArthur by impaling him with an airborne weathervane. Oh God no! What
will become of this stupid couple now? Sonny doesn’t stand a chance against a powerful warlock. Never
the less he gets his hands on the “Salem’s Cross” and plunges the blade into the warlock’s heart. If you
didn’t know it was going to end like this then you haven’t really been watching Witchcraft my friend.

 I have nothing positive to say about this film. Since Spanner isn’t even in this one you could  skip it and
continue the mangled series to it’s damned end - unless you’re a completist. This film isn’t good for
anything. It’s not scary, erotic, or funny. Witchcraft hurts and that’s a fact. Jose has officially cursed this
series to hell. Don’t engage this movie in particular unless you’re a seasoned movie masochist!  




                                                                                               - Jorge Antonio Lopez
NO COFFINS !
BLOOD
N / A
Witchcraft VIII: Salem's Ghost (1996)
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