Bad Magic

Director(s) - John Polonia (Lethal Nightmare, Hellspawn) and Mark Polonia (Death Reel, Jurassic Prey)

Starring - Vincent Simmons, Bob Dennis (Among Us, Muckman), and Maria Davis (Feeders, Night Crawlers)

Release Date - 1998

Genre - Horror/Crime

Tagline - "He's riding a soul-train of terror"

Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     Very few filmmakers can say they've had a career as lucrative as the Polonia Brothers.  The pair made movies together for over 30 years with Mark still making movies making movies after the death of his brother John.  Over the course of this span the two made movies together up until John's death in 2008.  The movies are known throughout the genre with several of them having a fairly decent cult following.  These two filmmakers are fairly polarizing to me.  I either really love the films or I can barely finish them.  There is no in between with them.  A few weeks back I received a few of the SRS Cinema's retro DVD releases with a few Polonia films in it.  It wouldn't be an SRS marathon if I didn't watch some Polonia madness!  The first on the chopping block is 1998's Bad Magic.  I want to thank MVD for sending this one over.

     The film follows a man who lost his brother in a robbery gone wrong when the gang he was in left him behind to die.  He seeks out the help of a voodoo priest to help him with his revenge in exchange for his soul.  He uses the resources given to him to kill the gang one member at a time before he loses his soul.

     I had no idea what Bad Magic was about prior to tossing it in.  I assumed it was about voodoo or some sort based on the title and artwork but that was about as far as it went.  However, the film is more of a vigilante crime with a little slasher overtone than it is a traditional horror flick.  I liked that aspect of it but the movie itself had too many issues for me to look passed.  The acting in this one is very inconsistent.  Some of the cast really gets into their roles while others awkwardly spit out dialogue.  Vincent Simmons delivers a strong performance as the film's lead but there is a few scenes where he was either tired or lacked energy.  These few scenes were extremely flat and unenthused.  The story for this one really pulled me in.  I was all about the revenge on a gang angle and the voodoo themed slasher worked very well with this.  It has a lot of possibilities and could really be something unique but the film ruins it's pacing by stretching the dull scenes and rushing through the more entertaining scenes in the film.  The pacing and story development clash in this one.  Finally, the film has several deaths.  They are cheap and funny at times but they are nothing that really stands out.  The effects are as cheap as possible and the mask used by the dead brother in the film is horrible.  It's clearly a latex mask from a Halloween display.  Overall, Bad Magic is one of the few Polonia busts.  When they are on their "A" game they knock it out of the park but there is a few that completely miss their mark.  Bad Magic is one of the few you can skip.