| The Witches Hammer | |
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| Directed by | James Eaves |
| Produced by | Steve Barnes James Eaves Laura Tennant |
| Written by | James Eaves |
| Music by | Mark Conrad Chambers |
| Cinematography | John Raggett |
| Editing by | James Eaves |
| Studio | Amber Pictures |
| Distributed by | WonderPhil Productions Blackhorse Ent. Epix Media |
| Release date(s) | December 22, 2006 |
| Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Witches Hammer is a 2006 low budget English action/horror film written and directed by James Eaves, produced by British production company Amber Pictures, and starring Claudia Coulter and Stephanie Beacham with George Anton as an antagonistic vampire.[1][2][3][4]
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After Rebecca (Claudia Coulter) is attacked in the streets, she is awakened by agents from "Project 571". She wants to return to her husband and son, but the agents inform her that she cannot because they have "altered" her to be a genetically modified vampire. Coercing her by promising that she might see her family again, they train her into a highly skilled assassin.
Returning from an assignment and discovering that everyone at Project 571 has been slaughtered, Rebecca is rescued by a warlock named Edward (Jonathan Sidgwick) and taken to Madeline (Stephanie Beacham), the witch who heads "Project 572". She is told that they need her expertise to retrieve "The Witches Hammer", a spellbook written by the Russian witch Katanya. The book is required to kill the vampire Hugo Renoir (Tom Dover), whose only vulnerability is one of its spells. As Rebecca and Edward begin their quest, they are set upon by both rival vampires and Hugo's minions, each whom wish the book for themselves.
First screened at Cannes on May 22, 2006, the film had its theatrical debut in Japan on December 22, 2006, and its DVD premiere on March 7, 2007, in the UK. The film received a nomination for "Best Feature Film" at the 2008 Swansea Film Festival.[5][6]
Don Sumner of Best Horror Movies in praising the film, wrote that one can see the "influences of several other popular movies in the way the film’s story progresses and how the scenes are shot", making note of influences from Blade, where the protagonist is skilled in martial arts and, Underworld where vampires and werewolfs have an eternal malice toward each other. He summarized by writing "The story is great and engrossing, the characters are interesting and the acting is very good – especially the ice-queen performance of Stephanie Beacham".[7] Alexxus Young of Evil Dread praised the film and made special mention of Of Stephanie Beacham's as the witch Madeline in how she'd "deadpan her lines in a demeanor that invokes Henry Daniell and the fun is infectious".[8] Fatally Yours praised the low-budget film, finding it to be well paced with adequate action and character driven scenes, making special note of "great" character development and that the action sequences were "extremely well done". Of Stephanie Beacham's performance as Madeline, they wrote "Her polished, commanding performance was a treat to see and lends a lot of credibility to the film". They closed by writing that "The Witches Hammer is a fun, entertaining horror film".[9] Zombie Review found the film a passable and "worthwhile effort" that might appeal to those into non-gory Vampire or Witch lore.[10] Moria Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review most enjoyed the way writer/director Eaves crafted a "back mythology" and appreciated that the background of the supporting characters was treated with depth and imagination. Noting that the action scenes felt like they were "boiler-plated in as set-pieces at regular intervals", they felt that they were "convincingly done and come with a stylish, well-choreographed kick".[4]