With the recent release of Disney’s Hocus Pocus 2 and the resurrection of the Sanderson Sisters, the witches are out to play! We felt inspired by the mystically crisp October air this Halloween season to compile this list of must-see witch movies this month. However, a full moon in Aries approaches this month, bringing high illuminations of intensity and healing. So, whether you’re lighting your smudge stick, firing up an intention candle, or reciting a spell, these witchy films will enlighten and enchant your spooky season movie experience. And who knows? Maybe they’ll spark some inspiration.
The Craft
Talented, brilliant, incredible, unique, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, iconic, erotic, whatever Stephanie Germanotta said, I think she’d agree that The Craft is ’90s film excellence! However, what makes the film queer is its overarching theme of outsiders finding solace among each other and honing in on their shared power. Not to mention it features gay icon/scream queen Neve Campbell. And, let’s be honest, we all wanted to be these girls. For many of us queers, we’ve used this film as a staple to our personalities. Unapologetically, we are the weirdos!
The Witch
If you’re a fan of impending suspense, A24 films, and Anya Taylor Joy, then The Witch is a must-watch! This cinematic masterpiece has it all. It has haunting cinematography with a tasteful, earth-toned color palette throughout every scene, breathtaking overcast views of 1600’s New England, a young Anya Taylor Joy, and a black goat turned into a seductive Satan with a devilish goatee and a perfectly styled mustache. And I’ll give you two words when you hear this man whisper, “Wouldst thou like to live deliciously.” Gates flooded!
Suspiria
A visually stunning body of work that serves as a model for quintessential filmmaking, Suspiria is that and everything more. The film follows a prestigious dance company led by a coven of witches, and as the film unfolds it spirals in all aspect, as do its characters and the audience watching. It’s a film with female-on-female erotic tension between its characters. It’s lensed both artistically, and its 2018 remake is comparable. Still, nothing beats the original. However, casting Tilda Swinton as the headmaster and seeing a young Mia Goth spiral to her demise (pre-Pearl era) gives the sequel strong incentives.
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Dr. Strange Multiverse of Madness
Though this isn’t entirely a witch-oriented film, and to anyone who’s not quite a Marvel fan, I encourage you to watch anything entailing Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. “Scarlet Witch.” Her story is so compelling and filled with a lot of depth, similar to many queer individuals uncovering the layers of their individuality that were kept hidden for a period of time. She’s chaotic in such a poetic way that you often forget that she’s trying to kill a 14-year-old girl in the film. But, honestly, I still was rooting for her until the end. I’M TEAM WANDA! Also, Elizabeth Olsen is mother for delivering this line that still sends chills down the back of my spine, “I’m not a monster Steven… I’m a mother.“
Practical Magic
What more could you want other than Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman playing sister witches in the same film? Practical Magic is a romantic and nostalgic film in the best of ways. It’s camp. It’s sweet. It has a montage of Kidman’s character Gillian stealing a car and driving cross country singing to Joni Mitchell’s “Case of You,” which I hope to recreate one day. But overall, you just fall in love with Bullock and Kidman’s characters’ relationship. The kinship between them is such a strong and familiar bond for many of us with chosen families. And, though I’m well into my 20s at this point, I still want to be Kidman’s character Gillian when I grow up. She gives enormous Libra energy.
KiKi’s Delivery Service
Many Hayao Miyazaki films include themes of witchery, such as spirited away–Howl’s Moving Castle and Mary and the Witch’s Flower–but this one is the most centered film around a witch. It’s an innocent tale of a young enchantress venturing off into the big city and trying to make it on her own, which is a coming-of-age story and right of passage that many queer and trans folks can understand. Plus, the English dubbed version features a young Kirsten Dunst and the legendary Debbie Reynolds. 10/10 recommend.
The Witches
The Witches is based on a beloved children’s book, but it still frightens me how this was marketed as a kid’s movie because I found many scenes traumatizing as a young person. Rewatching this recently, I quickly understood why I distrusted older people at that age. But childhood trauma aside, Anjelica Huston ATE THIS ROLE UP! The 2020 remake is only worth watching for the sake of our beloved Queen of Genovia, Anne Hathaway, being cast as the Grand High Witch. That being said, the kids do not deserve this film.
The Witches of Eastwick
I can’t think of another iconic film trio other than gay icon Cher, queer ally Michelle Pfeiffer, and bisexual Susan Sarandon in George Miller’s The Witches of Eastwick. This film is a masterpiece. Not to mention, it is incredibly sexy. The concept alone of a trio of thirsty witches falling into a twisted turned fatal love triangle and a mysterious wealthy newcomer just screams cinema!
The Love Witch
Visually stunning and a nod to ’70s style filmmaking, The Love Witch is a film that follows a young woman, Elaine, wanting to manifest the man of her dreams through a series of spells and mishaps that drive her to the brink of her undoing. (What gay man can’t relate to that???) Ultimately, however, she wants to be loved by all and carries herself with such grace, and is regal beyond compare, making her the perfect protagonist. (Again, relatable!) Big points to this film’s costuming and makeup team because this actress looked stunning, and her looks alone would make a great Halloween costume.
bachy
Rosemary’s Baby (1968) is a flawless horror masterpiece, about a young, newly wed woman who is seduced and psychologically trapped by a coven of witches living in an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West. The film is immensely satisfying on so many levels; as a broken marriage drama, as a glimpse of arcane New York bohemia in the 60s and as an exercise in body paranoia, all under the glamorous, macabre direction of Roman Polanski. From a novel by American writer Ira Levin.
If you’ve never seen it, rent it this Halloween – and you can thank me later.
JeffBaker
Don’t forget 1942’s “I Married a Witch.” The original script was by the late Thorne Smith (who wrote “Topper”) and it was directed by Rene Clair. A (historically inaccurate) Colonial witch-burning, a family curse and a couple of prankish witches let loose in the modern world are just part of the fun! Veronica Lake, Frederic March (they didn’t get along, ironically!) and Cecil Kellaway star in what was a sort of precursor to “Bewitched” with some smoke effects reminiscent of “I Dream of Jeannie.”
Karlis
I’m more the “Bewitched” kind of person myself.