Another "in-name only" sequel, with nothing
to do with the other films, being an unrelated feature that they retitled to cash in on the name "The Curse" (which is
odd, as I didn't think the previous films were "that" successful? But anyway...).
Taking place in 1950s colonial Africa, a couple of English women, who help run one of the nearby farms, prevent a witch doctor from sacrificing a goat in one of the nearby tribal villages, which greatly enrages the natives.
Next thing, people on the farm start to go missing and turning up horribly mutilated. But it seems, it isn't the local tribe doing it. It turns out there's some demon lurking in the sugar cane fields, who's out for revenge because they prevented the blood sacrifice and is killing any and all people connected to the farm, which provides some interesting gory scenes.
Desperate to make the killings stop, they turn to the local doctor (played by Christopher Lee) for help, as he gets on well with the tribes in the area, to see if there's a way of breaking the curse and stopping the monster. But is it really a monster on the loose, or could the explanation for the killings be more down to earth?
Relying more on tension than gore to drive the narrative, this isn't a bad film, which benefits greatly from having Christopher Lee in the cast, although the story was kind of reminiscent of "Children of the Corn" (1984), which also had a malevolent monster lurking in the fields.
This was apparently originally entitled "Panga" and was actually released under that name in some territories. Though for it's UK release, it was retitled "Witchcraft", which has lead to some confusion, as there were at least 2 other films with that title released in the late 80s.
But anyway, its worth a watch. Just be sure to view it on it's own merits.
