Magic lull up is a phrase that refers to the usage of magic to soothe and calm someone or something. In the realm of fantasy and folklore, magic is often portrayed as a powerful force that has the ability to manipulate and control various aspects of the world. One of the common uses of magic in many stories is to create a sense of tranquility and peace. The concept of using magic to lull someone up can be seen in different forms across different cultures and mythologies. In some tales, wizards or sorcerers are able to cast spells or incantations that create a soothing atmosphere, helping individuals to relax and fall asleep. Magic lull up can also be associated with the use of enchanted objects, such as music boxes or magical instruments, that have the power to induce a state of calmness and serenity.
The Witch Files (Movie Review)
Sometimes teenage girls can be scary, and a coven of young women is almost guaranteed to deliver thrills, as in The Witch Files, which arrives to DVD on Tuesday, October 9, 2018, thanks to Dark Sky Films.
Aspiring investigative journalist Claire (Holly Taylor: Worst Friends 2014, The Americans series) begins her day looking to get some insightful commentary on the topic of detention at Brunswick High. In the school’s girls-only detention, she films the diverse likes of “skinny, rich bitch” Brooke (Alice Ziolkoski: Summer Eleven 2010, Definitely Dead short 2018), varsity athlete Greta (Adrienne Rose White: Mira Mira short 2014, Quirky Female Protagonist series), unfiltered MJ (Tara Robinson: The Alyson Stoner Project 2009, Momma short 2016), and the black-clad badass Jules (Britt Flatmo: Life As We Know It 2010, Super 8 2011). When Jules puts on a flashy show of her inner-power, setting off the fire alarm without a touch and effectively ending their detention period, the ladies’ interests are piqued.
The Witch Files still.
That night, at midnight in the town’s historically infamous Merrymeeting Park, each of the disparate personalities comes together to chant and, ultimately, seal her fate with Jules’ self-made coven. Thus begins a slippery slope of shopping without paying, free trips to the salon, messing with their teachers, and chanting for major life-changes and self-improvements. While Claire is the only member of the newly-formed coven to show hesitation, it’s MJ who appears to initially take the brunt of the karmic hardship.
When the police become involved in the ladies’ exploits – particularly an intrigued Detective Strauss (Paget Brewster: Criminal Minds series, Another Period series) – the good times quickly turn toward struggle, and the coven cannot help but to begin to wonder if they are cursed – or is one of their own plotting against them?
Clocking in at 87 minutes in-length, The Witch Files was directed by Kyle Rankin (Infestation 2009, Night of the Living Deb 2015) and was written by Rankin and Larry Blamire (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra 2001, Dark and Stormy Night 2009). The Witch Files also features Greg Finley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager series, The Flash series) as Mr. Dwyer, the English teacher; Jared Boghosian (The Channel 2016, Jane the Virgin series) as fellow student Jason; Valerie Mahaffey (Seabiscuit 2003, Sully 2016) as Brooke’s alcoholic mother; and Dale R. Simonton (The Battle of Shaker Heights 2003, Nuclear Family TV movie 2012) as Claire’s kindly, out-of-work father.
The Witch Files still.
Let’s get straight to the point: The Witch Files is more or less interchangeable with 1996’s The Craft, thou the latter was definitely the better film. There was a darkly seductive and alluring quality to The Craft, one that made becoming a witch seem like a brilliant idea; something that is decidedly lacking in The Witch Files. Which is in no way to say that this film is a total failure: it is simply boring. As a story that has already been done and done well, The Witch Files is not going to excite adult viewers. Of course, luckily for the filmmakers, we are not the target audience here: young teen girls are clearly the focus, and the cast do a wonderful job of portraying a double-edged fantasy that just might lure in younger movie lovers.
One need not comment on Brewster, as her talents are already well-documented and she does herself proud here. Her younger co-stars, led by Taylor and Flatmo, do a superb job with their material. Taylor, as the perky and sweet Claire, does a wonderful job of being appropriately inquisitive and yet having that cautious, concerned edge that makes her the perfect sympathetic lead. While Flatmo is not convincing as the stereotypical “goth” girl, that is neither here nor there to her performance, which is impressive. She commands power and attention and does her character justice; without her superb performance as the twisted Jules, the entire production likely would have suffered.
Because the film moves at such a rapid clip, there is a mish-mosh of character development, with some ladies having much more to work with than others. Unfortunately, White’s Greta and Robinson’s MJ are two of the lesser-developed characters, though White receives far more material than Robinson, whose MJ is fairly flat. Whatever the case, White does a superb job of conveying the sass and pep necessary for a scholarly and athletic young woman, while Robinson portrays her MJ with the necessary quirks and spunkiness to keep the character interesting. While she falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum as far as her character’s background, Ziolkoski does a superb job in her role, making us initially despise the snobbish Brooke. It is only with time and the divulgence of Brooke’s family struggles that we come to relate more to her character and welcome her into the coven – which is a testament to Ziolkoski’s talents.
The Witch Files still.
In fact, start to finish, there is nothing exactly wrong with The Witch Files. Sure, the script is banal, at best, and the effects, while well-done, seem intentionally silly, but there’s nothing awful or Velveeta-soaked here. Often times, a well-done teen flick will have crossover appeal to adult audiences – 1996’s Scream being the perfect example – but, simply put, that is just not the case here.
Ultimately, The Witch Files lacks intrigue for adults, who are likely to find the film boring, while young girls are apt to lose themselves in the fantasies of levitation, free shopping, being crowned Spring Fling queen, and getting the boy they most desire – no matter the cost. For these reasons, CrypticRock give The Witch Files 3.5 of 5 stars.
Dark Sky Films
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Review: Kyle Rankin’s The Witch Files
With The Witch still fresh in everyone’s mind and the “Charmed” reboot heading to television in less than two weeks, the release of The Witch Files is quite timely, to say the least. Although, it deviates its own path in Wiccan film history, while also coming off as a teen-aimed mix of The Craft and Mean Girls. The previous press release from Dark Sky Films states this as well, leading me to believe that we’re all in agreement that The Witch Files has a very specific audience. I want to make that abundantly clear from the get go – I don’t think members of the horror community will dig this movie if they’re over the age of 21. Everyone 21 and younger, especially women, should give this one a chance, especially around Halloween season. It’s spooky, magical fun with drama, mystery and a pinch of action thrown into the cauldron. Based on the screenplay by Kyle Rankin and Larry Blamire, The Witch Files follows five friends from different social circles who are thrust into the world of witchcraft after the new girl at school shows off her powers during detention. As their powers grow, and they begin to make any reality happen, one of their members defects from the coven and threatens them all. Then, it’s a battle against nature, magic and time as the remaining members rally to stop the evil that surrounds them and vows to take their lives. Directed by Kyle Rankin, The Witch Files stars Holly Taylor, Alice Ziolkowski, Britt Flatmo, Adrienne Rose White, Tara Robinson, Valerie Mahaffey, Paget Brewster, Ranin Brown and Jared Boghosian.
Told partially through a documentary (thus giving off a found footage feel) and traditional narrative story-telling, The Witch Files captivated me at first when the characters mentioned that their town was rumored to have burned witches at the stake 300 years ago. To me, witchcraft is a forgotten subgenre of horror and fantasy, and I’m very happy to see that films like The Witch Files are trying to keep that torch burning. However, having seen so many movies and television shows and reading about Wicca and witchcraft, the script gets somewhat problematic when it comes to the basic fundamentals of the craft. You should never use magic for personal gain and/or revenge. That’s abusing magic, and it often comes with a price. This can be seen with the lead characters growing sicker and more debilitated as they used their powers more. I will give this praise for originality because I don’t think genre fans have seen this in a film yet – the body breaking down as the aura grows stronger. It’s a clever plot element worked into the movie, but I still would have liked to see more rules and regulations followed. And don’t get me started on the chanting. Obnoxious repetition and weak writing from the guys behind-the-scenes. Even if they used a made up language, I could have appreciated that more.
And this was my problem with The Witch Files overall. There is so much give and take that I don’t know how I’m going to rate this at the end. There were so many things that I liked, and so many things that made me go “why did they do that?” For starters, let’s be positive, I loved that the girls were duped by a half finished spell. Reading that was never a good idea, much in the same vein as Evil Dead. Don’t read phrases out loud that you’re not sure of! I loved that the main character is a high school journalist and captures her stories on camera because I did a lot of that myself in my younger years. So, I found some sort of relation with her enough to root for her survival. I liked the camera work and the cinematography, with the lake fire pit scene being my favorite in terms of look and quality. And I liked that the villain who sweeps in at the end had a definite and hidden agenda that transcended basic high school drama. She was more calculated than I expected. What I didn’t like, though, was some of the questionable acting. The girls do a fantastic job…at times, and other times needed another take to really perfect what they needed to convey. I also didn’t like that the production, as a whole, tried to accomplish too much with not enough budget. That resulted in some scenes and CGI coming off a little hokey.
The Witch Files was produced by Kyle Rankin, Scy Taylor, Holly Taylor and Paget Brewster. It features cinematography from Aitor Uribarri and editing by Kent Beyda and Tony Copolillo. I’m going to be honest. Being a somewhat independent and tamer version of The Craft meets Mean Girls wasn’t enough to sell me, which sucks because I really wanted to love this movie. I mean, yay witches! Fortunately, you get the opportunity to see the movie for yourself when it hits DVD on October 9th 2018 courtesy of Dark Sky Films. It will also be available on digital platforms, and that’s where I think your money is better spent. Overall, I’m not sure if The Witch Files is worth a full DVD purchase, but it’s certainly worth the price of a digital stream. It missed the mark for me, maybe because I’m outside of the target demographic other than liking witches, but it wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t great, either. Cool poster art, though. Final Score: 5.5 out of 10.
The Witch Files (2018)
Director – Kyle Rankin, Screenplay – Larry Blamire & Kyle Rankin, Producers – Kyle Rankin, Paget Brewster, Holly Taylor & S.C.V. Taylor, Photography – Aitor Uribarri, Visual Effects – Siopio Effects, Production Design – Laura Lienert. Production Company – Cocksure Entertainment/Monopol Films.
Cast
Holly Taylor (Claire McLaskey), Alice Ziolkoski (Brooke Cabot), Britt Flatmo (Jules Sutton), Tara Robinson (Mary Jane ‘MJ’ LaFont), Adrienne Rose White (Greta Thompson), Paget Brewster (Detective Strauss), Jared Boghosian (Jason), Greg Finley (Mr Dwyer), Ranin Brown (Darren), Dale Simonton (Mr McLaskey), Alex Bunker (Emily McLaskey), Valerie Mahaffrey (Mrs McLaskey), Sara Friedman (Margaret), Elizabeth Freeman (Karen Cabot), Jillian Mavodones (Sarah Gould), Kevin Peterson (Mr Thompson), Daniel Noel (Mr Sutton), Stephanie Atkinson (Mrs Sutton)
Plot
Claire McLaskey is shooting a video about detention at her high school. She goes to interview four girls who have been sent there. While doing so, the strange Jules Sutton offers to get the other detainees out and then uses magic to trigger the fire alarm. Claire and the other three girls are fascinated by what happened. Jules offers to teach them magic if they meet her at midnight that night. She gets each to cut a lock of their hair and conducts a ceremony, creating a coven that bonds them. By drawing on the power of the coven, they are able to perform magic. Flexing their increasing abilities, they are able to levitate objects, fly, bend others to their will and the like. They use their magic to go on a shopping spree and walk out with without paying for items. However, they soon find that using magic has a cost – their shopping spree has brought the attentions of Detective Strauss, while the use of their abilities starts physically taking a cost on each of them.
The Witch Files is a low-budget film. It swam under most people’s radar and has not been widely seen. It essentially plays out as The Craft (1996) by way of The Breakfast Club (1985). It is all shot as a Found Footage film to boot.
There is a good deal of amusement to watching the premise play out – in seeing the girls experiment with the possibilities of their powers and put them to various usages, most amusingly going on a shopping spree and walking out without paying. The girls are drawn with a series of well-developed characterisations and the five actresses are all fine in their roles. The film has fun playing around offering up rationalisations of traditional aspects of witchcraft like whether witches do ride on broomsticks or if it was a form of drug usage, and as to why witches are always seen as so old and hideous – the rationale being that the practice sucks up their lifeforce.
The first half of the film is about the girls having fun. The second half becomes about the cost of this where we see such things as the police turning up to query their sudden spate of purchases that haven’t been paid for and then each of them paying a physical price – degeneration of eyesight, jaw problems, outbreaks of warts. This second half is the less interesting one.
Teenage witches – (l to r) Holly Taylor, Adrienne Rose White, Tara Robinson and Alice Ziolkoski
In the latter section, the film treads the standard story arc used by The Craft with the rest of the girls fighting against one of the group who has gone to the dark side. Various other revelations occur here but it is essentially the same plot pathway in both films. At this point, what had seemed an effective drama that kept itself within the realm of relative realism inflates the magical powers to a point of unbelievability with Holly Taylor and Alice Ziolkoski doing things like creating copies of themselves or turning into giants as they fight.
Director Kyle Rankin first appeared with the screenplay for Reindeer Games (1996), not to be confused with the later John Frankenheimer film. He made his directorial debut with The Battle of Shaker Heights (2003) and went on to make Infestation (2009), Nuclear Family (2012), the witty zombie comedy Night of the Living Deb (2015) and Run Hide Fight (2020). The surprise name on the credits is that of Larry Blamire, director of spoof films like The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001), Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007) and Dark and Stormy Night (2009).
Magic lull up can also be associated with the use of enchanted objects, such as music boxes or magical instruments, that have the power to induce a state of calmness and serenity. These objects emit soothing melodies or enchanting tunes that can soothe the mind and relax the body. Magic lull up can be seen as a form of escapism, a way for individuals to temporarily escape the troubles and worries of the world.
In stories, characters often seek out the assistance of magical beings or objects to find solace and find comfort in times of distress. Additionally, magic lull up can also be seen as a metaphor for the power of relaxation and self-care. Just as magic has the ability to calm and soothe, taking time for oneself and engaging in activities that promote relaxation and peace can have a similar effect on the mind and body. In conclusion, magic lull up is a concept that highlights the use of magic to create a sense of tranquility and peace. Whether through spells, enchantments, or enchanted objects, magic has the power to soothe and calm individuals, providing respite from the chaos and troubles of the world..
Reviews for "Lull Ups vs. Pull Ups: Which Is Right for You?"
1. Kevin - 2 out of 5 stars
I was really disappointed with "Magic lull up". The characters were poorly developed and the plot was weak. I found it hard to connect with any of the characters because their actions and motivations were unclear. The writing style was also very bland and lacked any excitement or creativity. Overall, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for an engaging and well-crafted story.
2. Emily - 1 out of 5 stars
I regret picking up "Magic lull up" as it turned out to be a complete waste of my time. The story was completely predictable and lacked any originality. The dialogue felt forced and unrealistic, making it difficult to feel invested in the conversations between the characters. Additionally, the pacing of the book was extremely slow, making it a struggle to stay interested until the end. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a unique and captivating read.
3. Sarah - 2 out of 5 stars
I found "Magic lull up" to be quite underwhelming. The world-building was vague and poorly developed, leaving me with many unanswered questions. The magic system was also inconsistent and seemed to lack any well-defined rules. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth, making it difficult to feel any connection with them. Overall, I was left feeling unsatisfied and would not recommend this book to fans of the fantasy genre.