Forgotten Action-Horror Gem Starring Vin Deasel is Now Yours to Stream for Free
Action-horror is such an interesting subgenre. The Terminator and Aliens (both Cameron) are classics, adeptly balancing the scope of the action with more intimate, terrifying moments, though they’re more outliers than the norm. Often, especially in the 2010s, action-horror hybrids were costly, star-studded vehicles with fantastical presences and incredulous PG-13 ratings. Remember the two different attempts to launch a Dark Universe with Dracula Untold and The Mummy? Yeah. Well, they didn’t have Vin Deasel.
Remember the Nicolas Cage vehicle Season of the Witch from 2011? What about the adaptation of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant that hurts me to this day? Honestly, I’m not sure it’s ever been profitable enough to dump a bunch of money into an action-horror epic (aside from 1999’s The Mummy, of course), but studios keep doing it. At least one has defied the odds. You likely don’t remember Breck Eisner’s The Last Witch Hunter, but audiences on Tubi do. After all, the movie recently topped the charts. Learn more about this forgotten epic below:
Per Tubi: A fearless, immortal witch hunter ends up in a ferocious battle with supernatural enemies as he fights to save the human race from evil.
As an unironic lover of films like Tomb Raider and 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, something like The Last Witch Hunter looks like it’s right up my alley. I mean, I’m single-handedly keeping Paul W. S. Anderson employed. Vin Deasel stars in The Last Witch Hunter, an epic that’s less Pitch Black, more The Chronicles of Riddick. Reviews were poor, and while there is a sequel reportedly in development, the box office haul wasn’t anything to write your witch-hunter home about.
There’s something to be said for how unassuming the entire thing is, however. Sure, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense, but there’s a lot of fun to be had. It’s old school in its adventurous spirit, and apparently based on a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I didn’t know, but it immediately bumps my appreciation for The Last Witch Hunter up a few notches. After all, in our original 2015 review, we wrote, “The Last Witch Hunter will certainly not be the critical darling of the fall season, and it is not the most memorable fantasy-action entry of the last few years, but it is a commendably original genre effort that mainstream audiences will likely enjoy.”
What do you think? Any plans for The Last Witch Hunter to join your rotation this week? If it does, let me know your thoughts over on Twitter @Chadiscollins.
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