There comes a point every year when Eric and I officially enter witching season. The witchy books come out. The Halloween decorations start appearing. And eventually we begin working our way through the movies and shows we watch year after year.
This is not a definitive list of the best witch movies ever made. It is not ranked. I am not a film critic. These are simply the witchy movies and shows we actually love, rewatch, and argue about in our house. Some are sweet. Some are ridiculous. Some are deeply disturbing. A few are comfort movies I could watch at any time of year.
And apparently, I like my witches complicated. No surprise there.
Practical Magic
This is where witching season begins. Every year.
Practical Magic is equal parts sweet, nostalgic, and just wicked enough. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as the Owens sisters. Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as the aunts. And Aidan Quinn, whom I will love forever and always. There is something incredibly comforting about returning to that house, that kitchen, margaritas that tell the truth, those women, and that family every fall.
And now, of course, we have Practical Magic 2. We saw it opening weekend because obviously we did. I won't spoil anything. I will say that it was nostalgic and sweet, and I enjoyed returning to the Owens family. I wish Maisie Williams had been given more to do because I think she's rad. At times, the movie veered a little Scooby-Doo for me, and Sandy and Nicole's polished-to-perfection quality occasionally distracted me from the story.
But will I watch it again? Of course I will.
Hocus Pocus
Required annual viewing. I don't think I need to defend this choice. It's Hocus Pocus.
And you know what? I didn't hate Hocus Pocus 2, either. It's fun. Witching season is allowed to be fun.
The Craft
“We are the weirdos, mister.”
Forever and ever, amen. I love The Craft. Fairuza Balk lives permanently in my dark little heart, and I remain disappointed that I cannot dramatically shake my hair and change my eye color.
There's something about the women in this movie being outsiders and finding power together that still works for me all these years later. Also: the clothes.
The Witch
And now we go to the dark side. I don't generally like horror, but The Witch is different.
Puritan New England. Religious repression. Isolation. A family slowly coming apart. And a girl who doesn't quite fit into the role the world has assigned her. As someone who has spent a fair amount of her life thinking a little differently and not always fitting neatly where she was expected to fit, I am apparently very susceptible to this particular story.
It is disturbing. It is darkly delicious. And that final temptation to “live deliciously”? I get it. I really, really get it.
Also, Black Phillip may technically be a goat rather than a cat, but spiritually? That animal belongs in the black-cat cinematic universe.
Weapons
Okay, this one is creepy. And wickedly good.
Weapons starts with the deeply unsettling disappearance of a classroom full of children and gets stranger and darker from there. But let's talk about Aunt Gladys.
Amy Madigan is absolutely unhinged in the best possible way. The hair. The makeup. The clothes. The smile. THE TWIGS. She's funny and terrifying at the same time, and somehow you cannot take your eyes off her.
Madigan's performance was so damn good that she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role. And deservedly so.
This is definitely one for witches who like their movie nights darker. It's creepy, weird, smart, and genuinely disturbing.
TWBC verdict: Wickedly good. Aunt Gladys is nightmare fuel, and we mean that as the highest compliment.
Doctor Sleep
If The Shining ever left you wondering what the hell happened to little Danny Torrance after surviving the Overlook Hotel, Doctor Sleep answers that question. And, unsurprisingly, the poor guy has some issues.
Ewan McGregor plays the grown-up Danny, now sober and trying to build a life while still living with the gift that has followed him since childhood. There’s actually something incredibly tender about the way he eventually uses that gift as “Doctor Sleep,” helping dying patients peacefully cross over. And then there is Rose the Hat.
Rebecca Ferguson is fantastic as Rose, the beautiful, charismatic, and completely terrifying leader of the True Knot. I won't get too deeply into what they do because, as a parent, parts of this movie are genuinely hard for me to watch. Let's just say they prey on children who possess the shine, and it gets very dark.
But I love that Doctor Sleep takes us back into the world of The Shining, gives Danny the chance to confront what happened to him, and eventually brings us full circle. It's creepy, complicated, and genuinely spooky.
And apparently I liked Rose the Hat enough that Eric and I dressed as members of the True Knot for Those Witches Be Crazy two years ago. Make of that what you will.
The Witches of Eastwick
Is this movie deeply of its time? Yes. Is Jack Nicholson's character an outrageous misogynist? Also yes. Is he at his wicked best? Absolutely.
But really, I'm here for Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon. Three women in a small town discovering what happens when the devil comes around, and discovering themselves in the process. It's sexy and weird and old-fashioned and delightfully wicked, and I don't care. I love it.
Stardust
Speaking of Michelle Pfeiffer, this is one of my all-time comfort movies. I've also loved the book for years, and the movie is one of those rare adaptations that has become its own beloved thing for me.
Claire Danes. Michelle Pfeiffer. Robert De Niro as you have perhaps never imagined Robert De Niro before. Witches and stars and magic and romance and adventure. I don't even reserve Stardust for witching season. I will happily watch it several times a year.
I love this movie with my whole heart.
The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz & Wicked(s)
You can't really talk about witches on screen without Oz. The Wizard of Oz may contain the first witch I ever remember seeing, and decades later, I still love what Wicked did by asking us to reconsider everything we thought we knew about Elphaba.
I read the book when it first came out, and I've always loved the idea of telling the story from the supposed villain's perspective. I do need to be in the right mood for that much musical-theater singing, though. :joy:
Which brings me to The Wiz. Diana Ross as Dorothy. Michael Jackson. Nipsey Russell. Ted Ross. Lena Horne. And yes, Ben Vereen. It's oddball and imaginative and full of music that was part of my youth.
And Diana Ross as Dorothy? Come on.
The Love Witch
Watch this one for the style alone. The Love Witch looks like it was pulled out of another era, even though it's a modern film. The colors, makeup, clothes, and sets are so intensely stylized that the movie feels like its own strange little universe.
It's odd. It's interesting. It's gorgeous. That is enough for me.
Suspiria
Oh boy. Remember when I said I don't like horror?
Suspiria is one of the most disturbing movies I've watched in recent memory, and I still cannot get it out of my head. Dakota Johnson. Tilda Swinton. Witchcraft. Dance. Body horror. Very bad things happening to human bodies. Naturally, the dance part sucked me in.
Eric refused to finish it because it was disturbing AF. He wasn't wrong. But it was also incredibly cool, strange, darkly European, and unforgettable.
Proceed accordingly.
Kiki's Delivery Service
Okay. We need a palate cleanser.
Who doesn't love Kiki? Kiki's Delivery Service is another annual watch for me. It's sweet, magical, and lovely, and I adore the idea of a young witch heading out into the world to figure out who she is and what she's capable of.
And then there is Jiji.
Every proper witch deserves a black cat, and Jiji may be one of my favorite witch companions ever. I have a black cat of my own, so perhaps I'm biased, but black cats are special creatures. Funny, mysterious, slightly mischievous, and unfairly burdened with centuries of ridiculous superstition. Obviously, they belong with the witches.
And while we're here, Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away belong in the conversation too. Magic and witches show up again and again in Hayao Miyazaki's worlds, which is one of the many reasons I love spending time in them.
But Kiki—and Jiji—are extra special.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Angela Lansbury! This may actually have been one of my earliest introductions to the idea that witches could be fun.
A witch-in-training. An enchanted bed. Animated fish. Children flying around on furniture. Honestly, what's not to love? It's pure whimsy, and sometimes that is exactly what witching season needs.
Maleficent
Sleeping Beauty is my favorite of the old-school Disney animated movies, so giving Maleficent her own backstory was always going to get me. Then they cast Angelina Jolie. Done.
I love both Maleficent movies, but the first one especially gave me something I didn't expect: a genuinely heartbreaking explanation for how someone becomes “wicked.” Maleficent is powerful, wounded, and angry for very good reasons, and underneath it all, she has an enormous heart.
She's wicked for a reason. Also, Diaval the raven. I apparently have a thing for witches with black animal companions. Who could possibly have predicted this? :black_heart:
I loved this version of her enough that I dressed as Maleficent for Those Witches Be Crazy one year.
Wanda, Doctor Strange & the Marvel Kind of Witchy
Now we're going big. I love Doctor Strange and will happily rewatch those movies, but my favorite magical arc in the Marvel universe belongs to Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch.
WandaVision got me. The shifting television eras. The weirdness. The grief. The desperate attempt to hold together a family and a life that cannot actually be held together. She's a mother trying to keep everything from falling apart while simultaneously possessing enough power to create an entirely different reality.
I mean... Mama's mental health. I understand.I love her evolution from supporting character to an enormously powerful, complicated woman whose grief and love pull her into some very dark places. And when that story collides with Doctor Strange in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, I am absolutely in.
I've dressed as Scarlet Witch for Halloween, too. Apparently I have a type.
Currently Watching: American Horror Story: Coven
I finally did it. I am watching American Horror Story: Coven.
Remember: I am not a horror person. And this thing is gross. And disturbing. And occasionally so outrageous that I have actually laughed out loud, because, well… Ryan Murphy.
There are moments when I am completely into it and moments when I am watching through my fingers. Eric has opted out. Apparently Suspiria taught him something.
Definitely not for the faint of heart, but I have to admit: I'm enjoying it considerably more than I expected.
And Finally: Harry Potter
This is where our witching season ends.
Since Eric and I have been together, we have a tradition. After Halloween, we begin watching all eight Harry Potter movies, usually carrying us through Thanksgiving and sometimes right into Christmas.
And I love them.
The story begins with so much innocence and wonder: you're different, magic is real, and there's an entire world where you might finally belong. And then everyone grows up. Things become complicated. People disappoint you. The choices become harder. There isn't always a clean distinction between good people and bad people. Loving someone doesn't necessarily mean agreeing with them. Sometimes doing the right thing costs you something.
One of my favorite characters in the entire series is Narcissa Malfoy. Her restraint. Her style. Her ferocious love for her son. When everything finally comes down to Voldemort or Draco, her choice is clear.
Her family is complicated. Her marriage is complicated. Her loyalties are complicated. But that's precisely why I love her. I also love that Harry ends up with Ginny Weasley, and I will hear no arguments at this time.
The Harry Potter movies somehow carry me perfectly out of Halloween and into the end of the year. They start with magic and eventually become stories about friendship, family, courage, loss, loyalty, and the people we choose to stand beside when things get hard.
Maybe that's why I return to all of these stories. Sometimes witches are wicked. Sometimes they're funny. Sometimes they're mothers barely holding their shit together. Sometimes they're outsiders. Sometimes they're powerful women everyone else has decided are dangerous.
And sometimes they're just a girl and her black cat, flying off to figure out who she's going to become.
That's witching season to me. 🖤🐈⬛