4 Spellbinding Witchcraft Horror Movies You Haven’t Seen
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Witches have always been among horror’s most iconic villains. The very first horror film, the 3 minute long The House of the Devil (1896) (also known as The Haunted Castle), is the first in a long line of witchcraft horror movies. It depicts a woman being conjured from a boiling cauldron.
The early Swedish film Haxan (1922), which came out the same year as the seminal vampire classic Nosferatu, is the first major witch feature film. Later on, especially in the 21st century, witch horror movies have become strongly associated with the folk horror subgenre.
I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too!
The most famous witch movie is The Wizard of Oz, which, of course, isn’t a horror film (although it does have its creepy moments). The Wicked Witch of the West has influenced and been referenced by numerous horror movies about witches, including famous ones like The Blair Witch Project and Hocus Pocus. More recently, dark provocative folk horror works like Robert Eggers’ The Witch have made a significant influence on the genre.
But this list isn’t about witch horror movies that have made indelible impacts on popular culture. Here are four spellbinding witchcraft horror movies that you (probably) haven’t seen.
These movies offer similar vibes to the films on my fall horror movies list. If you like these, check those out, too!
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Gretel & Hansel (2020)
Gretel (Sophia Lillis) and her younger brother Hansel (Sam Leakey) flee their home after their mother threatens to kill them. Desperate for shelter, they eventually meet a mysterious elderly woman, Holda (Alice Krige). They accept an offer to stay in her home (which is not a gingerbread house in this version). Gretel is suspicious of the woman, but Hansel thinks she’s being paranoid.
This movie takes awhile to get going, but it’s fun to look at. The cinematography is beautiful. The chemistry between Lillis and Leakey gives the movie its spark.
Gretel & Hansel, based on the Grimm fairy tale, is directed by Oz Perkins. It’s his third film after The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House.
Sophia Lillis, who plays Beverly in It (2017), makes an excellent Gretel. This movie’s version is a teenager who is several years older than Hansel. With Gretel taking the lead protagonist role, Perkins reversed the characters’ names from the story title.
Where to watch:
Hellbender (2021)
Izzy (Zelda Adams) has grown up in isolation. She’s homeschooled and lives deep in the woods with her unnamed mother, played by Toby Poser. Izzy is homeschooled and strictly forbidden to engage with outsiders.
She and her mom enjoy making metal music together, but the precocious teen is increasingly curious about the outside world. What Izzy doesn’t know is that her mother is hiding a terrible secret about their family’s history.
Hellbender is a unique coming of age folk horror film starring a real life mother and daughter and directed by John Adams, Zelda’s dad. Her sister Lulu also has a supporting role.
It was made on a shoestring budget, but for an indie movie made almost entirely by one family, it’s a remarkably spooky and effective work. The natural chemistry and heartfelt performances by Zelda and her mom make Hellbender one of the best witch horror movies of the 2020s.
Where to watch:
The Woods (2006)
It’s Massachusetts in 1965, and young Heather (Agnes Bruckner) has been a very naughty girl. After engaging in arson, the defiant and sullen teen is forced by her parents to enroll in an isolated all-girls private school.
The teachers are extremely strict. A group of mean girls, led by the diabolical Samantha (Rachel Nichols), dominate the school’s social scene. Heather makes a friend, Marcy (Lauren Birkell), who is bullied by the mean girls for apparently being gay. Of course, it turns out that the faculty are a secret coven of witches who want to use the girls for a murderous ritual.
The Woods has Suspiria vibes, and not just because the plots are similar. Its striking cinematography recalls the work of giallo directors like Dario Argento. Like many of the films in my fall horror movies list, it uses an atmospheric Autumn woodland setting.
Bruce Campbell plays Heather’s dad. He’s always fun to watch, but Campbell feels out of place here. His scenes have a campy tone that differs from the seriousness of the rest of the film.
Where to watch:
The Wretched (2019)
Ben (John-Paul Howard) moves into his dad’s house after his parents divorce. His new home is located next to a marina and a thick forest. Ben clashes with his dad Liam (Jamison Jones), who already has a new girlfriend, Sara (Azie Tesfai). Ben becomes suspicious that his next door neighbor, Abbie (Zarah Mahler), is a witch. Of course, his dad doesn’t believe him.
Ben and his love interest Mallory (Piper Curda) try to figure out what’s going on. It turns out that the witch is possessing people, taking their kids, and making them forget that the children ever existed. When Mallory’s little sister gets abducted, Ben will stop at nothing to defeat the witch.
The plot has parallels with the cult classic vampire flick Fright Night, although it doesn’t have that movie’s style or quirky sense of humor. Still, The Wretched is a creepy and involving tale with a formidable antagonist. If the witches in these four movies all fought each other, my bet would be on this one to come out on top.
The Wretched has several major plot turns. It concludes with a spooky final twist that seems to set up a sequel, although so far no follow up has appeared.
Where to watch:
Witches as symbols for family strife
Many horror films use common genre monsters as allegories for real life issues. This is true in many of the best witch horror movies. In this case, family dysfunction, particularly strife between a child and a parent, plays a key role in each of these horror movies about witches.
All four of these witchcraft horror movies feature teenagers who are embroiled in difficult family situations. Each character experiences parental abandonment (or the threat of it). There’s a longstanding tradition in literature of using witches as symbols for neglectful parents.
Witches have also been used for centuries to symbolize societal anxieties about feminist ideals. Gretel & Hansel, and to a somewhat lesser extent Hellbender, turn that trope on its head by making their young female protagonists powerful and independent.
