Movies about Witches: Essential Films

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1939 - 202229 Films49h 1m3.7 Average

This watch list captures the breadth and cultural significance of witch cinema across decades. We've included foundational classics like The Wizard of Oz, influential horror milestones such as Suspiria and The Blair Witch Project, cultural phenomena like Hocus Pocus and The Craft, and modern folk horror achievements including The Witch and Hagazussa.

From atmospheric slow-burns to campy cult favorites, from witch hunters to powerful covens, these films represent the diverse ways cinema has explored witchcraft. The list encompasses Italian giallo horror, teen supernatural drama, romantic comedies with magical elements, and harrowing period pieces that examine historical persecution.

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1
The Wizard of Oz poster

The Wizard of Oz

19391h 42m4.5
Director: Victor Fleming
Cast: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Frank Morgan

Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.

AdventureFantasyFamily
2
Black Sunday poster

Black Sunday

19601h 26m4.4
Original Title: La maschera del demonio
Director: Mario Bava
Cast: Barbara Steele, John Richardson, Andrea Checchi, Ivo Garrani, Arturo Dominici

A vengeful witch, Asa Vajda, and her fiendish servant, Igor Jauvitch, return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant: Katia. Only a handsome doctor with the help of family members stand in her way.

Horror
3
Rosemary's Baby poster

Rosemary's Baby

19682h 18m4.7
Director: Roman Polanski
Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans

A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family.

DramaHorrorThriller
4
Witchfinder General poster

Witchfinder General

19681h 27m3.6
Director: Michael Reeves
Cast: Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, Robert Russell, Nicky Henson, Hilary Dwyer

England, 1645. The cruel civil war between Royalists and Parliamentarians that is ravaging the country causes an era of chaos and legal arbitrariness that allows unscrupulous men to profit by exploiting the absurd superstitions of the peasants; like Matthew Hopkins, a monster disguised as a man who wanders from town to town offering his services as a witch hunter.

DramaHistoryHorror
5
Suspiria poster

Suspiria

19771h 39m4.4
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Barbara Magnolfi

An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.

Horror
6
The Witches of Eastwick poster

The Witches of Eastwick

19871h 58m3.6
Director: George Miller
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Veronica Cartwright

Three single women in a picturesque Rhode Island village have their wishes granted - at a cost - when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.

ComedyFantasyHorror
7
Spellbinder poster

Spellbinder

19881h 39m3.1
Director: Janet Greek
Cast: Tim Daly, Kelly Preston, Rick Rossovich, Audra Lindley, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

After leaving work one night, Los Angeles attorney Jeff Mills and his colleague rescue a young, beautiful woman from an abusive boyfriend. Jeff soon becomes romantically involved with her and embroiled in the web of intrigue that follows her, despite a string of ominous happenstances and repeated warnings from his secretary.

HorrorDramaRomance
8
The Witches poster

The Witches

19901h 31m4
Director: Nicolas Roeg
Cast: Jasen Fisher, Mai Zetterling, Anjelica Huston, Charlie Potter, Rowan Atkinson

A young boy named Luke and his grandmother go on vacation only to discover their hotel is hosting an international witch convention, where the Grand High Witch is unveiling her master plan to turn all children into mice. Will Luke fall victim to the witches' plot before he can stop them?

FantasyFamilyHorror
9
Hocus Pocus poster

Hocus Pocus

19931h 36m4.1
Director: Kenny Ortega
Cast: Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch

After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once and for all.

FantasyComedyFamily
10
The Craft poster

The Craft

19961h 41m3.9
Director: Andrew Fleming
Cast: Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, Skeet Ulrich

A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them -- be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.

HorrorDramaFantasy
11
Practical Magic poster

Practical Magic

19981h 44m3.8
Director: Griffin Dunne
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest, Goran Višnjić

Sally and Gillian Owens, born into a magical family, have mostly avoided witchcraft themselves. But when Gillian's vicious boyfriend, Jimmy Angelov, dies unexpectedly, the Owens sisters give themselves a crash course in hard magic. With policeman Gary Hallet growing suspicious, the girls struggle to resurrect Angelov -- and unwittingly inject his corpse with an evil spirit that threatens to end their family line.

RomanceComedyFantasy
12
The Blair Witch Project poster

The Blair Witch Project

19991h 21m3.5
Director: Daniel Myrick
Cast: Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams, Bob Griffin, Jim King

In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.

HorrorMystery
13
Sleepy Hollow poster

Sleepy Hollow

19991h 45m4.2
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien

Skeptical young detective Ichabod Crane gets transferred to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, where he is tasked with investigating the decapitations of three people – murders the townsfolk attribute to a legendary specter, The Headless Horseman.

FantasyThrillerMysteryHorror
14
The Covenant poster

The Covenant

20061h 37m2.9
Director: Renny Harlin
Cast: Chace Crawford, Taylor Kitsch, Toby Hemingway, Sebastian Stan, Steven Strait

Four young men who belong to a supernatural legacy are forced to battle a fifth power long thought to have died out. Another great force they must contend with is the jealousy and suspicion that threatens to tear them apart.

FantasyHorrorAdventureAction
15
Stardust poster

Stardust

20072h 7m4.3
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Strong, Jason Flemyng

In a countryside town bordering on a magical land, a young man makes a promise to his beloved that he'll retrieve a fallen star by venturing into the magical realm. His journey takes him into a world beyond his wildest dreams and reveals his true identity.

AdventureFantasyRomanceFamily
16
Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps poster

Sennentuntschi: Curse of the Alps

20101h 50m3.5
Original Title: Sennentuntschi
Director: Michael Steiner
Cast: Roxane Mesquida, Nicholas Ofczarek, Andrea Zogg, Carlos Leal, Joel Basman

1975, Swiss Alps: In a remote mountain village, a beautiful and mysterious woman shows up. Only the village policeman takes care of the strange woman and tries to find out who she is. There are hints that she came from the Höhenalp Alp, where herdsmen do unthinkable things to get the company of women. Many dark truths are revealed that should better have remained hidden. A tragedy of lust, insanity and murder is brought to a seemlingly pure and perfect world. It is the beginning of a nightmare of religious insanity, hypocrisy, abuse and belief in demons, who destroys a young family and brings a whole village to destruction.

ThrillerHorrorMystery
17
Season of the Witch poster

Season of the Witch

20111h 35m2.8
Director: Dominic Sena
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Ulrich Thomsen, Christopher Lee, Fernanda Dorogi

A 14th century Crusader returns with his comrade to a homeland devastated by the Black Plague. The Church commands the two knights to transport a witch to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence.

AdventureFantasyAction
18
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters poster

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

20131h 28m3.3
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Pihla Viitala, Derek Mears

After getting a taste for blood as children, Hansel and Gretel have become the ultimate vigilantes, hell-bent on retribution. Now, unbeknownst to them, Hansel and Gretel have become the hunted, and must face an evil far greater than witches... their past.

FantasyHorrorAction
19
Into the Woods poster

Into the Woods

20142h 5m3
Director: Rob Marshall
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Lilla Crawford, James Corden, Emily Blunt

In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker and his wife set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.

FantasyComedy
20
The Last Witch Hunter poster

The Last Witch Hunter

20151h 46m3.2
Director: Breck Eisner
Cast: Vin Diesel, Elijah Wood, Rose Leslie, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Julie Engelbrecht

The modern world holds many secrets, but by far the most astounding is that witches still live among us; vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world and putting an end to the human race once and for all. Armies of witch hunters have battled this unnatural enemy for centuries, including Kaulder, a valiant warrior who many years ago slayed the all-powerful Witch Queen, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments right before her death, the Queen cursed Kaulder with immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter. Today, Kaulder is the last living hunter who has spent his immortal life tracking down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost family.

ActionAdventureFantasy
21
The Witch poster

The Witch

20161h 32m4
Director: Robert Eggers
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger

In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways.

HorrorFantasyDrama
22
The Autopsy of Jane Doe poster

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

20161h 26m3.9
Director: André Øvredal
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Ophelia Lovibond, Olwen Catherine Kelly, Michael McElhatton

Father and son coroners receive a mysterious unidentified corpse with no apparent cause of death. As they attempt to examine the "Jane Doe," they discover increasingly bizarre clues that hold the key to her terrifying secrets.

HorrorMystery
23
Pyewacket poster

Pyewacket

20171h 28m3.2
Director: Adam MacDonald
Cast: Laurie Holden, Nicole Muñoz, Chloe Rose, Eric Osborne, James McGowan

A frustrated, angry teenage girl awakens something in the woods when she naively performs an occult ritual to invoke a witch to kill her mother.

HorrorThriller
24
Hagazussa poster

Hagazussa

20181h 42m3
Director: Lukas Feigelfeld
Cast: Aleksandra Cwen, Claudia Martini, Tanja Petrovsky, Haymon Maria Buttinger, Celina Peter

In the 15th century, a young goatherd living alone in a mountain hut feels a dark presence in the woods.

HorrorDramaFantasy
25
Suspiria poster

Suspiria

20182h 32m4
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton, Mia Goth, Angela Winkler, Ingrid Caven

A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.

HorrorMysteryDrama
26
The Witch in the Window poster

The Witch in the Window

20181h 16m3.3
Director: Andy Mitton
Cast: Arija Bareikis, Greg Naughton, Charlie Tacker, Alex Draper, Carol Stanzione

When Simon brings his twelve year-old son, Finn, to rural Vermont to help flip an old farmhouse, they encounter the malicious spirit of Lydia, a previous owner. And now with every repair they make – she's getting stronger.

HorrorDrama
27
The Wretched poster

The Wretched

20191h 35m3.3
Director: Drew T. Pierce
Cast: John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Jamison Jones, Azie Tesfai, Kevin Bigley

A rebellious teenage boy, struggling with his parents' imminent divorce, encounters a terrifying evil after his next-door neighbor becomes possessed by an ancient witch that feasts on children.

HorrorMysteryThriller
28
Gretel & Hansel poster

Gretel & Hansel

20201h 27m3.2
Director: Osgood Perkins
Cast: Sophia Lillis, Samuel Leakey, Alice Krige, Jessica De Gouw, Charles Babalola

A long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.

HorrorFantasyMystery
29
You Won't Be Alone poster

You Won't Be Alone

20221h 48m3.7
Director: Goran Stolevski
Cast: Sara Klimoska, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, Félix Maritaud, Carloto Cotta

In an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, a young feral witch accidentally kills a peasant. She assumes the peasant's shape to see what life is like in her skin, igniting a deep seated curiosity to experience life inside the bodies of others.

HorrorDrama