Witches’ Brew

Director: Eileen Daly
Writer: Eileen Daly
Producers: Eileen Daly, Jean Jeanie Daly-Branch
cast: Eileen Daly, Sam Cullingworth, Justin G Gibson
Country: UK
Year of release: 2023
Website: www.eileendalyproductions.com

And so we come to the third in Dame Eileen Daly’s self-produced ‘I See the Dead’ trilogy, which has already extended to two more titles: First Bite is the Deepest and She’s a Bitch (aka Witches Can be Bitches).

In this entry in the series, Sebby and Simon have both been taking a mysterious potion, which has made Simon very randy and has had a startling double effect on Seb, giving him a frightwig of dark hair and turning him heterosexual.

The trio travel to a medieval castle which is somehow also a terraced house in Northampton where they are once again greeted by Tom (Michael John Lovett) from the last film. He has two young women in body stocking living with him, whom he introduces as his nieces, who seduce Seb and Simon, must to Eileen’s exasperations.

These two girls are witches, apparently, although they also seem to be shapeshifting succubi. Halfway through, the team are joined by a drag queen named Mort, variously credited as Jem John Millar or (presumably his stage name) Gwen Ever. There is also a tramp (Marco Drilling) in some scenes, a clown (Michael Higham) who appears occasionally behind the voluminous dust-sheets that fill almost every room, and a glowing ball of light which is the spirit of Seb’s mother. Right at the end, when the witches/demons have been vanquished, Tom magically transforms into the younger (and ridiculously handsome) MJ Dixon.

Jason Impey once again DPed, and again there are plenty of atmospheric stock footage establishing shots borrowed from the works of Jean Rollin via Nigel Wingrove’s DVD collection (Requiem for a Vampire and Nude for Satan, in this instance). Eileen even gets to don some vampire fangs at one point, harking back to the old Lilith Silver character she played in Razor Blade Smile.

This third ‘Dalyade’ is very much in the vein of the first two. The best moments are whenever Eileen gets fed up with dealing with Seb and Simon and their pursuit of the young ladies. Those are moments that give her a chance to really act. For all that the three are a team, they work best when there is character conflict between them. All screen trios do, from the Stooges to the Goodies.

Witches’ Brew is another microbudget comedy horror romp that is bound to please Eileen’s many fans.