Erotic Witch Project 2000 Horror Movie Review

In the weeks after The Blair Witch Project transformed from cult independent horror movie legend to Cinderella-story blockbuster, it seemed that everyone and his brother had their own copycat in the works. The Erotic Witch Project wins the dubious honor as the first finished parody out of the woods and onto home video. This silly soft-core spoof follows the adventures of three college girls who take a couple of video cameras into the woods to find the legendary erotic witch. After finding sex toys and anatomically correct stick figures mysteriously left outside their tents, their clothes are stolen (along with the map) and they wander naked through the woods, haunted by spooky sounds but too busy making out to worry about it. “I’m so horny, and I’m so scared at the same time,” confesses one girl in a parody of Heather’s famous direct confession in the original. Just for fun there’s also a completely unexplained guy in a bad gorilla suit running around with a blow-up doll who picks up the camera when the girls are too busy getting it on to tape themselves. More ludicrous than funny, it’s less a movie than high-concept (though low-budget) video centerfold, but once in a while the gags hit and for a few brief moments the parody actually works. —Sean Axmaker