Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageWitch Hunt (1996)
Director: Paul Schrader
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
You can see why Schrader thought he might make something of this made-for-cable satire, in which the Hollywood of the early 1950s becomes the target for a corrupt egomaniacal Senator whose bid for the presidency is built on a campaign to expose practicing magicians. The film's gimmick is that the magic is real: it conjures up dream hookers, turns a plain stenographer into a star, brings back Shakespeare to write additional dialogue and forces the bad guy to disgorge his evil 'inner twin'. Sadly it all runs aground on the pitifully feeble dialogue and the parallel attempt to spoof the gumshoe genre, while Hopper (as private eye HP Lovecraft!) and Sands (as his evil-eyed foe, with the world's dodgiest Oirish accent) look as if they don't care.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Paul Schrader
Producer: Gale Ann Hurd, Michael R Joyce
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Penelope Ann Miller, Eric Bogosian, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Julian Sands full cast
Duration: 94 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'
Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now