Of course Willow and Tara are above and beyond my favorite, they are not the only ones, nor were they the first (the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz gains that dubious honor). So here is a thread to discuss all our favorite TV/Movie witches.
ETA: Adding more reviews and updating some others.
Kiki’s Delivery Service (Majo no takkyubin)
You might have heard Drlloyd or I talking about this one, or at least our kids watching it.
Kiki is a young witch-in-training in this Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) it’s a cute little flick and has a nice story. In my opinion Phil Hartman steals the show as Kiki’s cat Gigi. I’ve seen a few times now and it really hasn’t grown old on me yet.
ETA: I got this one for my son on DVD for his birthday. I have seen it a few-dozen more times now. It is still a very good movie with a great message: Believe in yourself and you can do anything.
Sure, it is a "kids movie", but it is still worth seeing. Yes, Kiki is no Tara or Willow, and for the life of me I can't see what she sees in that dork Tombo (esp. when she has more chemistry with the artist Ursula), you will be rooting for her in the end.
Charmed
Ah the Halliwells. I avoided this show forever. But enough Kittens recommended it that finally I gave it a chance. I am really glad I did. The stories can be campy or even cheesy at times, but there is an honesty to it, like Xena episodes. Plus they do a fairly decent job of portraying “Hollywood magick” and at least pay better lip service to wicca than some shows.
Plus it was the subject of another great Bob Essay!
Practical Magic
Boy I was set out to hate this movie. Well I didn’t love it, but it was a lot better than I expected. Sometimes both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman can get on my nerves, but they didn’t in this flick. Sure there is plenty of cheese but it a fair sight better than some movies on witchcraft of late.
The Craft
Speaking of which. I was prepared to really like this flick and man was I disappointed. For a while I hated it, now I just look at it and see a lot of failed potential. I mean they had all the right elements (no pun intended) but somehow all they made with it was a mess. At least Practical Magic knew when to talk about things, when to let the story take over and when to shut up. I would like to see this cast in another, better witch movie, either together or by themselves. Hell, Neve Campbell was a better witch in “Wild Things”. To her credit Fairuza Balk now owns an occult gift shop and has a few negative things to say about the story in The Craft.
Witches of Eastwick
Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jack Nicholson and John Updike. Can’t fail right! Right? Well I did enjoy it, but it could have been better. This is Jack at his high Jackness. You believe he is the devil. You just don’t understand what the deal is with the other three? Why do they even care? All I got was he can sweet talk them all into bed, ok that is not the Devil per se but a cad. And if he can do that AND is the devil, why these three? Ok they summoned him….the reasons get a little too circular for me after a bit. Yes it is a fun movie to watch and it is still better than “The Craft” or “Blair Witch 2”, I guess with a pedigree like it has I was expecting more.
The Blair Witch Project
A movie that survived, thrived even on expecting less. Way cool idea, done way cheap.
The story is thin, the acting is thin, the plot is thin. But yet it delivers. That last scene still kinda freaks me out.
Plus you have to love a movie that makes something like 141 Million bucks (in 2002) and cost 35,000 to make. And everyone knows about this movie. Studio execs were scratching their heads. No big budget, unknown stars, no special effects, huge profit.
The witch mythos are a touch thin, but if you get to see the SciFi Channel mockumentary of it then it expands on it greatly and even becomes a little spookier.
Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost
Well. It's Scooby Doo, so I didn't expect much. That's what I got.
It starts out well enough. It is the new generation of Scooby Doo movies, so the in-jokes are a little funier, Fred is not dressed like a swinger and Daphne seems to have a purpose. There is a Stephen King like character trying to clear his ancestor's tarnished name. It mudles up the whole Wicca vs. Witch thing and in the end plays to the cliches.
Seen that story before.
If you take it as a Scooby Doo cartoon, it's fine. As a show about witches, it is average.
Häxan
Also known as Witchcraft Through the Ages.
By far the best movie on witches I have ever seen. My brother got this for me. It is a 1922, silent, Danish quasi documentary and it does a better job of depicting the nature of the European witch craze than about 10 hours of Discovery Channel.
I watched it and I was completely fascinated, then I watched with the audio commentary on (not a bad choice for a silent film) and was doubly entertained and informed.
The last chapter, where director Christensen compares witches to psychiatric patients was a bit of a stretch, but not at all inconceivable for the time (again, 1922). We have had the benefit of the 70’s occult revival to fuel our thoughts. Course he could have dealt a little more with the late 1880’s occult revival in his, but I am picking nits now.
Avoid at all costs the 1968 re-release version with commentary by William S. Burroughs in one of his less lucid states (though the score by Jean-Luc Ponty is not bad, if you like trippy jazz). Both versions are on the DVD.
It is very rare, Amazon is the only place I have seen it.
That is enough for now, what are your faves? Bewitched? Angelique from Dark Shadows? Any Sabrina fans?
Other Witchy Threads on the Kitten.
- Willow and Tara's Magic
- A question about WICCA
- Call for Contributors / Tim's RPG stuff, which is mostly about witches.
Warlock
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Web Warlock
The Other Side,
home of Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks: Available October 31st, 2003!
“Well-behaved women rarely make history.” - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich,
Professor Harvard University.
ooh boy is Elizabeth Montgomery a hoootttiiee!!!
and Nia Peeples ("Fame," "General Hospital"
, so good to see she's acting again in something decent. Pick it up lifetime!! 
at: 1/8/04 10:44 am