filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Paul Andrews Superstition starts in Italy where nineteen year old English teenager Julie McCullough (Sienna Guillory) is working for the Cenci's as an au pair looking after their young child Claudio, however one night tragedy strikes & a fire breaks out in the child's bedroom in which he dies. Julie is accused & charged with arson & murder, the public prosecutor Isabella Flores (Frances Barber) ask's her friend & defence lawyer Antonio Gabrieli (Mark Strong) to represent Julie which he agrees to. The police forensic experts have no idea how the fire started & the Italian press baying for blood dub Julie a witch, the evidence is against Julie as it seems is the whole of Italy. Things look bleak for Julie but then Antonio is contacted by a professor who may have a very unusual & very supernatural explanation for what happened...This English, Dutch & Lexembourg co-production was directed by Kenneth Hope & if you stumble across Superstition without knowing anything about it you would be forgiven for thinking that it is a supernatural horror film which it isn't. The script by Kate Dennis & Paul Hoffman is much more of a courtroom drama than a straight horror film, in fact apart from one or two supernatural overtones I wouldn't call Superstition a horror film at all. The vast majority of the film is made up of the courtroom scenes, the personal angst surrounding Julie & the situation she finds herself in & her defence lawyer Antonio being drawn into her world. Superstition is very much a character driven piece, in fact Superstition lives or dies by it's character's since it's a very exposition heavy film with very little in the way of dramatic incident. Luckily the character's are actually excellently fleshed out to a degree where you care about them, the relationship's between people, people's motives, lies, trust & how the situation affects them is what Superstition is all about. The actual limited supernatural elements are a little hard to swallow & seem somewhat implausible in a rather forgettable twist ending. At 90 odd minutes in length if you have the patience to follow it then Superstition is a fairly engrossing & gripping drama, if your looking for supernatural horror & things that go bump in the night then forget it.Director Strong does a nice job here & the film is very stylishly shot, the film is also quite cleverly edited with several flashbacks scenes which all tie together nicely. The film has a soft look about it with muted colours, wide open locations & lots of fades rather than quick sharp cuts between scenes. Again Superstition is not an out-and-out horror fest of blood & gore, far from it in fact & I don't think there's a single drop of blood in the entire thing or a single scene which is meant to be scary. There's a definite atmosphere of unease but it doesn't try to be scary at all. I am not an expert on Italian law but why was Julie freed after being convicted of arson? I know she was acquitted of murder but the fact remains that a baby died in the fire she was convicted of starting, wouldn't that be called manslaughter which is a crime in itself? Wouldn't the judge take that into account when sentencing? Also, despite being set in Italy not one person ever speaks in Italian...Technically the film is well made with some nice stylish cinematography. The locations look nice enough although I am pretty sure it wasn't actually shot in Italy. There's some very good performances here from a good cast here including Charlotte Rampling, Alice Krige & the always watchable David Warner.Superstition is more of a courtroom drama than a supernatural horror film & you really should know that before watching it, alas I think the marketing campaign bigs up the horror elements which are obviously easier to sell than a drama. Worth a watch if you have the patience, stick with it & don't expect a full on horror film. Not to be confused with the brilliant gory horror flick Superstition (1982) about a killer witch.

Benjamin Cox Spending last night drafting my review of "Lord Of War" (only watched it the night before) and not really getting anywhere, I was distracted by the BBC who occasionally broadcast films that I have never heard of but still persuade me to watch. Sometimes, this can backfire as anyone who watched "The Ghost" will tell you but given that this film had several actors of note, I figured I'd forget about Nicolas Cage (momentarily) and instead focus on this strange mix of supernatural mystery and courtroom drama.Sienna Guillory plays Julie, a young au pair working in Italy and still traumatised by the death of her mother in a fire when she was 15. Despite this, she works for a middle-aged couple (Derek de Lint and Alice Krige) looking after their infant child but before long, tragedy strikes when the baby is also killed in a fire. Accused of murder, Julie finds herself defended by Antonio Gabrieli (Mark Strong) but soon, it looks like there are far darker motives at heart than petty jealousy.Despite being described as a "supernatural thriller" by the BBC, this was about as thrilling as watching grass grow. It never really got going and even though the impressive cast do well with a patchy script, you never really believe it because it's clearly bunkum. Take the actors - with the exception of Ms Guillory, every other character is supposed to be Italian but there is no way you'd know that watching it. The most European actor on set is Charlotte Rampling as a strange psychotherapist-slash-nun (some mistake, surely) who gets involved in the case. One other thing I really didn't like was the fact that the script obviously favoured the supernatural approach over a straight-forward murder - close-up shots of ravens, fog floating on the surface of a lake and other stereotypical images gave the game away pretty quickly. Nothing wrong with being "alternative" but at no point was the murder explained beyond some seriously dodgy nonsense about poltergeists and psychic powers. I've seen episodes of "The X Files" that were more of a "supernatural thriller" than this.Unfortunately the film is filled with a strong cast, most of whom actually perform very well. Guillory is impressive as the tortured teenager and so is Strong, who I've only ever seen in one-off TV dramas on ITV (which is not normally a ringing endorsement of one's acting credentials). Both have adequate support from Francis Barber and a cameo from David Warner but given that everyone is supposed to be Italian, what's the point of these fine British actors being there? In fact, why set it in Italy at all - the film would work just as fine if it were set in Britain. It's symptomatic of a film that has plenty of ideas and heavyweight actors but little cohesion, imagination or enthusiasm. Personally, I'd rather watch something like "The Craft" or something with a bit of life in it. But I'm afraid "Superstition" hasn't much going for it. I knew there was a reason I'd never heard of it...

mjw2305 Loosely based on a true story, Superstition is the tale of a British Au-Pair working in Italy, accused of using Witchcraft and Firestarting, after some fatal, fire related incidents. We then follow the story of her battle through the courts and her fight for innocence.The film has some decent acting and some quite disturbing scenes, but is largely forgettable and brings nothing new to the genre.It's OK if your desperate to see it, but if you have any doubt don't bother, it's probably not worth the effort.5/10For some decent Supernatural thrills, Try Sixth Sense, Stir of Echoes, What Lies Beneath or even Gothika, before you try this.

Mikew3001 This movie is based on a true story: In 1979 a British au-pair girl was working for an Italian family on the island of Elba and accused of firestarting and witchcraft after a few fatal incidents and a burnt-down house - the family told the judge she has caused the fires by "supernatural powers". She was accused guilty in 1982 but returned to England.The film shows basically the same plot with stunning Sienna Guillory as the au-pair girl Julie with supernatural powers. Mark Strong plays her lawyer Antonio who has to fight mainly against prejudices and the fundamental superstition of the people and the media. Director Kenneth Hope hasn't produced a copy of the doomy "Exorcist" and "Omen" horror movies, but rather a silent psycho drama with great actings by Guillory, Strong, Charlotte Rampling, Alice Kringe and David Warner. There is no happy end, a thrilling court room drama sequence and there are also some very surreal and disturbing dream sequences.If you relate "Superstition" to the horror movie genre, it's one of the best contemporary European genre productions apart from the boring popcorn horror movie remakes and teenie slasher trash of the current Hollywood productions.