New Era has announced that they’re giving director Kate Whitbread’s supernatural thriller Witches of Blackwood a DVD and premium TVOD release on September 7th, with a full digital release to follow. An independent Australian production, the film was shot under the title The Unlit back in 2018, so it’s good to hear that it has secured this distribution deal. Cassandra Magrath of Wolf Creek stars in the movie as Claire,
who, following the death of her mother, returns to her hometown to discover it riddled with witchcraft and overshadowed by a mysterious darkness, steeped in rumours of a soul-stealing entity. As she seeks the truth behind her mother’s death, a confrontation with a coven of witches is the only way to survive.
There’s another synopsis that gives away some more details, revealing that Magrath’s character Claire Nash is
a cop who is forced to go on leave after the suicide of a teenager in which she is implicated. When she receives news of her father’s death she returns to her hometown in the country, a place which is in the grip of fear and decay while the locals report seeing a shadow seeking blood. Claire uncovers the shocking facts surrounding the death of her father from her uncle Cliff (John Voce), the former head doctor at a now-abandoned asylum. She sets out to try to convince him to return to the asylum where her late mother Sarah (Francesca Walters) was committed.
Whitbread crafted the story with Darren Markey. She told if.com.au she wanted to make a film that dealt with fate and witchcraft because
Australia is yet to produce a quality witch story and what is more pagan and cinematic than witches? The film also explores the complex relationship between mothers and daughters and how these relationships help define us. Claire is from a long line of witches, with the film exploring what happens when she is called back to take up her rightful place, highlighting the universal need for identity, which is often found by returning home.”
The trailer for Witches of Blackwood can be seen in the embed above, and some artwork can be viewed below. If you like what you see, get ready for the film to arrive on DVD and TVOD in just a couple weeks.
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