A round-up of non-horror Halloween movies!
The Witches (1990)
Directed by Nicholas Roeg
This is one of the — if not the — best non-horror Halloween movies ever made. Every year since 2020, I’ve vowed to watch the remake, and every year I travel back to 1990 instead (despite being a great Hathaway admirer). No one could possibly be more perfect as Grand High Witch than Anjelica Huston. FYI she was Roald Dahl’s casting choice, too, and although he didn’t technically have a say in the matter, he stated afterward that she was who he envisioned.
As a witch, Huston’s long fingers, wrinkled and scabbed skull, and pointed noise are truly the stuff of nightmares. As a human woman, her style and coolness ooze off screen. She is chilling in the best way!
There are, of course, some movie-ified changes from the book — like knowing the protagonist’s name, etc. — but they don’t detract from the DNA of the story: The movie is just as creepy and image-forward as the book.
Jim Henson‘s Creature Shop designed and built the makeup for the witches, and the work is genuinely stunning. The ballroom scene where the women transform in witches and the dining room scene where they turn into mice are some of the most impressive displays of the era.
The Witches was the last film Henson worked on before his death, and Dahl passed away a few months after the movie’s release.
Sometimes it’s in a ‘so bad it’s good’ kind of way, but everything from Rowan Atkinson‘s flawless performance to pure comedy like the chef slapping a breaded veal against a garbage can before sending it back out to the table after a complaint to the incredible imagery pulled right from the pages come together to make this movie truly great.
This movie is good.
My rating: 4.5/5
Practical Magic (1998)
Directed by Griffin Dunne
This movie is a different take on the genre. Instead of gore, jump-scares, or slasher scenes, it relies a horror from our world, domestic violence, and simply injects the fantastical impossibility of witchcraft. It’s a kind of spin on magical realism.
The movie is interestingly paced, we advance years at a time and have to play catch-up to the plot, adjusting to new realities in a heartbeat (like when Sandra Bullock‘s Sally falls in love and has two kids with her doomed husband). In the same way, we watch Nicole Kidman‘s Gillian accelerate from meeting her lover (Goran Visnjic) to desperately seeking escape from him in a matter of minutes.
The conclusion is satisfying: A group of women literally destroying an abusive man to protect one of their own. It’s a premise that holds up 25 years later. There are, of course, some plot questions when you really stop to think — but the set-up, relatable characters, and ending scenes somehow make it feel cohesive enough to pass.
The very best moments of this movie come from the aunts, Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Frances (Stockard Channing). When they’re involved, the scene feels like it has something more to say. Unfortunately, they leave the sisters alone for most of the movie and plot falters at times.
Kidman and Bullock have an undeniable chemistry as sisters, and (despite Bullock’s typically tense acting style) feel real.
It doesn’t follow the standard Halloween movie rulebook (and passes the Bechdel test) and for those reasons alone it can hold your attention throughout.
This movie is bad (in the very best way).
My rating: 2.5/5
Corpse Bride (2005)
Directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
Tim Burton was also filming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) at the time, and apparently just “stopped in” once in a while (of course that also means Johnny Depp was filming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and recording lines for Corpse Bride at the same time…).
Mike Johnson later said “Tim knew where he wanted the film to go as far as the emotional tone and story points to hit. My job was to work with the crew on a daily basis and get the footage as close as possible to how I thought he wanted it.” Do with that information what you will.
One of the most interesting features is the upended visual reality: The world of the living is dark, rainy, and blue-purple-gray while the afterlife/underworld is bright, pink-orange-red-green, and filled with music.
This was the first digital stop-motion film. For that alone, it deserves props — it was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards. The stop-motion is very cool, the movements feel like a dream sequence, stilted and ethereal. At times throughout, it’s fun, funny, jovial, dark, tragic, eerie, disgusting, and heart-warming. The voice acting was excellent. Depp (as Victor) and Helena Bonham Carter (as Emily) bring life to the movie (fun fact: Depp is the godfather to Bonham Carter’s two children with Burton). There are undeniably good things about this movie.
It’s very short but still feels drawn out in some ways. The plot does seem to be searching for itself in some moments (tricking Emily into going to the land of the living? Forcing Victoria to marry Lord Barkis after less than 24 hours of Victor’s disappearance?) and many of the characters felt underbaked. What do we know of Victoria? What draws Victor to these two women, beyond their piano duets (he does one with each of them)? Do Lord Barkis’s motivations go beyond money, or was he truly just born evil and greedy? There’s a severe lack of backstory to all of the main cast.
It’s not the best Burton feature (not even close), but watching it on a dark October night with some popcorn? Fun watch, spooky vibes, Halloween hit.
This movie is good.
My rating: 3/5
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