London Voodoo
(Heretic Region 1 DVD)
(2004)
review by Suicide Blonde

The Mathers family has just moved to London so Lincoln (Doug Cockle) can take a job as some financial bigshot. Which isn’t pleasing his wife Sara (Sara Stewart) much, as Lincoln tends to be a bit of a workaholic. (Case in point, the first thing he does when they get into their new house is set up the fax machine.) Then there’s the new au pair Kelly (Vonda Barnes) who has her eye on Lincoln. But if all that weren’t bad enough, the Mathers’ realtor somehow forgot to mention that buried under the basement floor is a voodoo tomb with two mummified corpses.

Sara uncovers the tomb and is immediately possessed by a voodoo priestess. She starts acting a bit odd, finding new ways to wear cosmetics and pouring sugar out on the counter so she can draw odd shapes in it. After a while, even married-to-his-job Lincoln begins to notice that something is amiss.

London Voodoo is very much a glass is half-empty or half-full effort. On the plus side, the film is very well shot, especially considering that it’s an independent effort. The editing is excellent as well, with some effective jump cuts and some truly disorienting scenes involving voodoo ceremonies toward the end. The London setting is unusual and makes the voodoo aspect all the more strange and unexpected.

Unfortunately, the story is the routine possession tale. The subplot involving the au pair does nothing except kill time; nothing that happens in this thread of the story has any impact on Sara’s voodoo possession and what Lincoln can do to help. And for some time, Sara’s possession doesn’t have any effect on the other characters; Lincoln is too busy to notice and their toddler is secure in the au pair’s care and never seems to be in danger.

What really does not work in London Voodoo, though, are the characters. We know little about Sara before she’s possessed other than that she resents Lincoln’s work fixation and is good at making snippy, passive-aggressive remarks about it. Lincoln spends all his time focusing on his work, ignoring his wife and making almost no attempt to be a father at all. And Kelly the au pair is supposed to create tension with her obsession with Lincoln; the problem is that we see no possible reason fo her to be so fixated on Lincoln. Her actions can only be explained by mental illness or screenwriter’s convenience.

Of much more interest are the characters who make up London’s voodoo community. It would have made for at least a more unusual film if we’d learned more about them; unfortunately, they’re relegated to the sidelines and don’t play a significant role until Lincoln wises up to what’s going on with Sara.

It’s a shame that London Voodoo is such an uneven movie, because Heretic has put together a fine DVD. The audio mix is 5.1, and the special features include deleted scenes, a “making of” documentary, an interview with a voodoo priest, and director’s commentary.

The makers of London Voodoo have a great deal of technical promise. If their next effort has compelling characters and a strong story, it will definitely be one to look out for.