Robert Bloch: The Man Who Brought Us Psycho (1959)

Categories
Featured Horror Books Horror Mystery and Lore

During his lifetime, Robert Bloch traveled through the horror subgenres in pursuit of any and all things strange, morbid, or macabre. He started his writing career by imitating his mentor H.P. Lovecraft and subsequently becoming Lovecraft’s peer when he began to expand upon the Cthulhu mythos. It’s fair to say that without the influence and encouragement of Lovecraft, Bloch may never have become the successful and prolific author of horror fiction.

The Wildly Successful Novel?

It’s true that “millions of people across the globe know Psycho very well,” (Hood and Szumskyj, 102) but the Pyscho that they know is the Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation—to say that as many of them are familiar with the original novel by Robert Bloch would simply be false. Truth be told, however, without the masterful original inspiration, there would be no Psycho film franchise and massive following that it has had over the years.

All in all, Bloch himself was quite satisfied with how the movie adaptation came out, not to mention the fact that he regularly quoted Hitchcock when he reminded people that, “Psycho all came from Robert Bloch’s book. The scriptwriter, Joseph Stefano, a radio writer, he had been recommended by my agents MCA, contributed dialogue mostly, no ideas.” This apparently tickled Bloch so much that he even repeated it in his own unofficial biography Once Around the Bloch. He wanted everyone to know how much he endorsed the movie as a great representation of his book, this was a change in direction for Hitchcock, who had a history of taking artistic liberties when adapting other novels to the screen—consider, for example, the differences between Hitchcock’s The Birds (19363) and Daphne Du Maurier’s The Birds and Other Stories.

Was Psycho (1959) Based on a True Story?

Bloch had a pretty obsessive fascination with psychopaths and serial killers in general, in fact, the inspiration for his masterful novel Psycho (1959) was loosely based on “the infamous real-life Wisconsin serial murderer Ed Gein” (Hood and Szumskyj, 104). In 1985, Bloch gave an interview to Ron Leming where he disclosed the fact that at the time Gein’s crimes were discovered, he had lived only twenty-nine miles away from where Gein had lived in Plainfield, Wisconsin. It was upon this discovery that Bloch became obsessed with the idea of this psychotic murderous person living in plain sight, perhaps even being the seemingly kind neighbor who would fly under the radar. Although Bloch didn’t intend for the novel to read like a biography of Gein’s life, he did take elements from his life as inspiration for his main character, Norman Bates. Ed Gein was, during his early years, a poor loner raised by troubled parents; his father was an alcoholic and his mother a domineering and fanatically religious woman who exerted her monstrously controlling influence upon Ed and his older brother Henry. It’s not terribly surprising that Henry ended up dying in a fire under suspicious circumstances in their family home.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Film Adaptation: Psycho (1960)

When Alfred Hitchcock purchased the rights of Robert Bloch’s novel Psycho (1959) for a meager $9,500 he did so anonymously—it wasn’t until closer to the release of the film that he came to find out. Hitchcock’s screenwriter Joseph Stefano remained incredibly true to the original story, altering the screenplay only minimally to fit the infamous director’s vision.


Hitchcock’s wildly successful film continues to dominate the public consciousness and, indeed, its dreams and nightmares: the stark, indelible black-and-white images, the characters, the suspense and horror of the storyline, the infamous shower scene, Norman Bates as masterfully portrayed by the unnerving Anthony Perkins, the ultimate unveiling of “Mrs. Bates,” the unforgettably desolate setting of the little neglected dark motel off the road far from the main highway and the house behind it—all this has, by the present day, become such a part and parcel of our culture that for many, Psycho is just one of Hitchcock’s most popular and shocking films, now as then upon its release in 1960.

Scott D. Briggs, “The Keys to the Bates Motel: Robert Bloch’s Psycho Trilogy” in The Man Who Collected Psychos (2009)

Psycho Movie Poster (1960)
Psycho (1960)

Trickery in the Theater

Hitchcock was possibly at the height of his showmanship when the 1960s thriller Psycho came out. Now, when we look back at how he maximized the attention of this legendary film’s release, we can see how blatant of a publicity stunt it really was.

Kudos to Hitchcock though, because he committed to it to such a degree that he made it abundantly clear that, in no uncertain terms, no one was allowed into the theater once the feature had begun.

Stationed outside each box office where the film was being featured was a five-foot-tall cardboard standee of Hitchcock himself, holding a sign that warned theater attendees of the following:

WE WON’T ALLOW YOU to cheat yourself! You must see PSYCHO from beginning to end to enjoy it fully.

Therefore, do not expect to be admitted into the theatre after the start of each performance of the picture. We say no one – and we mean no one – not even the manager’s brother, the President of the United States, or the Queen of England (God bless her)!

– Alfred Hitchcock

Now, if you have seen this classic thriller, you’ll know exactly why Hitchcock didn’t want people to walk in late and spoil the movie for themselves, but if you don’t know why—consider the following:

The synopsis of the movie is that “a Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer’s client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.” To go along with this, the theatrical trailer for the movie shows the star of the film as Janet Leigh—Leigh’s part in the movie, while substantial to the story, is tragic and short-lived. This was incredibly controversial and shocking to audience members who, having watched the trailer, expected her to be in the entire movie. Classic Hitchcock.

The Remake—Psycho (1998)

While the remake from 1998 didn’t add any content or context that enriched the movie from the original Bloch creation, it did come across as a reverential and faithful scene-by-scene retelling of the original movie. Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche play our main characters and do these classic scenes a decent amount of justice. Other than being a modernized version of the original film, there isn’t much that this movie brings to the table—I still personally enjoy watching it occasionally.

Work Cited

Bloch, Robert. Psycho. Blackstone Audio, Inc., 1959.

Hood, Robert, and Szumskyj, Benjamin. The Man Who Collected Psychos: Critical Essays on Robert Bloch. McFarland, 2009.

Sorene, Paul. “Alfred Hitchcock’s Rules for Watching Psycho And Behind The Scenes Photos (1960).” Flashbak, 30 Oct. 2017, flashbak.com/alfred-hitchcocks-rules-watching-psycho-behind-scenes-photos-1960-389260/.

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Ten Paranormal Movies/Television Series to Watch On Amazon Prime in January 2020

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Scary Movies and Series

It’s winter, it’s cold and well it’s perfect for watching supernatural horror. So we’ve put together a list of the best paranormal movies and television series on Amazon Prime right now to keep you entertained during these cold months. Maybe save The Shining for a nice snowed in some wintery night.. or not. We will be updating this list on a monthly basis as new titles become available and older titles leave.

January 2020

10.) The Woman in Black

Director: James Watkins

Writers: Jane Goldman

Cast:  Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer, Sophie Stuckey, Liz White

Arthur Kipps, a lawyer, is recently widowed and grieving from the loss of his wife when he is sent to a remote village. Soon after his arrival, it becomes clear that the villagers are hiding a terrible secret. Kipps discovers that his late client’s house, for which he is there, is haunted by the spirit of a woman who is trying to find someone and something she lost, and no one is safe from her.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%

9.) The Innkeepers

Director/Writers: Ti West

Cast: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis

When two employees at a New England hotel decide to investigate stories of hauntings and ghosts, their actions waken an unwanted presence.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

8.) Carrie (1976)

Director: Brian DePalma

Writers: Lawrence D. Cohen

Cast: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, John Travolta, William Katt, Nancy Allen, Betty Buckley

In this adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel, secluded and sensitive teen Carrie White faces taunting and teasing from classmates at school and abuse from her mother at home. When strange occurrences start happening around Carrie, she begins to suspect that she has supernatural powers. Invited to the prom by the empathetic Tommy Ross, Carrie tries to let her guard down, but things eventually take a dark and violent turn.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 93%

7.) The Blair Witch Project

Directors/Writers: Eduardo Sánchez, Daniel Myrick

Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, Joshua Leonard

Found video footage tells the tale of three film students who’ve traveled to a small town to collect documentary footage about the Blair Witch, a local legend. Over the course of several days, the students interview townspeople and gather clues to support the tale’s truth. But the project takes a frightening turn when the students lose their way in the woods and begin hearing horrific noises.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%

6.) Hereditary

Writer/Director: Ari Aster

Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Millie Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne

When the grandmother of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%

5.) The Shining

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Writers: Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson

Cast:  Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, Danny Lloyd

Jack Torrance becomes the winter caretaker at the isolated Overlook Hotel in Colorado, hoping to cure his writer’s block. He settles in along with his wife, Wendy, and his son, Danny, who is cursed by psychic premonitions. As Jack’s writing goes nowhere and Danny’s visions become more disturbing, Jack discovers the hotel’s dark secrets and begins to unravel into a homicidal maniac terrorizing his family.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 85%

4.) A Quiet Place

Director: John Krasinski

Writers: Bryan Woods and Scott Beck

Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe

A family must live in silence to avoid mysterious creatures that hunt by sound. Knowing that even the slightest whisper, pen drop, or footstep can bring death, Evelyn and Lee are determined to find a way to protect their children while searching for a way to fight back.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

3.) The Exorcist (1973)

Director: William Friedkin

Writers: William Peter Blatty

Cast:  Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty Winn, Jack MacGowran, Jason Miller, Linda Blair

This tale of an exorcism is based loosely on actual events. When the young daughter Regan starts acting odd, levitating, speaking in tongues her worried mother seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A priest, however, thinks the girl may be possessed by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%

2.) The Babadook

Director/Writers: Jennifer Kent

Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel Henshall, Hayley McElhinney, Barbara West, Ben Winspear

A single mother, grieving from the violent death of her husband, battles with her son’s fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her and her family.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

1.) The Evil Dead (1981)

Director/Writers: Sam Raimi

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker

Ashley “Ash” Williams, his girlfriend and three pals hike into the woods to a cabin for a fun night away from it all. There they find an old book, the Necronomicon, and the text reawakens the dead when it’s read aloud. The friends not knowingly, release a flood of evil and must fight for their lives or become one of the evil dead. Ash watches his friends become possessed, and must make a difficult decision before daybreak to save his own life.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%

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The 10 Most Underrated John Carpenter Horror Films

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Reviews Scary Movies and Series

These ten movies directed by horror-master John Carpenter sadly live on as underrated additions to the horror film genre—in fact, many of these you won’t ever hear mentioned in daily horror culture, but that’s a shame because all of these are worthy of at least a little attention.

Someone's Watching Me (1978) Movie Poster

Someone’s Watching Me (1978)

While this horror movie isn’t truly a paranormal horror tale, it is a classic horror tale that many women can relate to in their real lives—being stalked. True to form of successful movies that continue to live on from the 70s, Someone’s Watching Me (1978) is a traditional, “less is more,” type of piece. It relies upon the situations that would if one were to experience them in own life, would cause incredible anxiety and lasting fear. This is possibly Carpenter’s most underrated movie, perhaps simply due to the years that have passed since it was released. In truth, it’s the kind of movie that might constantly be giving loud advice to the main character while she gets increasingly sticky situations.

Someone’s Watching Me IMDB listing

The Fog (1980) Movie Poster

The Fog (1980)

As the title suggests, this film brings its scare from the fog—it’s a horror movie that focuses on the creeping and inevitable, there is no stopping the fog from rolling in, especially when it moves against the wind. What can you do when there is something deadly in the fog—something that moves with it, that kills without provocation? All you really can do when it comes is bolt your doors, lock your windows, and stay inside your house. This story of Captain Drake and his ill-fated crew is definitely a classic worth watching or re-watching if it has been a while.

Enjoy seafaring horror? Check out our article on hauntings at sea as well

The Fog IMDB listing

Creepshow (1982) Movie Poster

Creepshow (1982)

Honestly, this is one of those classic movies that you just have to watch, anthologies this entertaining are few and far between and while it’s not nail-bitingly scary, each of the stories are interesting and unique. This movie scared the pants off of me as a child, because it never went over-the-top with any attempts to use technology that was out of its reach but just believable enough to allow you to be in the story with the characters.

Creepshow IMDB listing

Christine (1983) Movie Poster

Christine (1983)

The classic tale about a boy and his first car—his possessed car that is. Have you ever felt that someone you know is overwhelmingly obsessed with one of their belongings, to the point that their life and well-being becomes intertwined with the well-being of their belonging? This film is among the first of its kind to really put an emphasis on the possession of an inanimate object in a meaningful way.

Christine IMDB listing

Prince of Darkness (1987) Movie Poster

Prince of Darkness (1987)

Although there are many movies based on the emergence of Satan, this was possibly one of the most imaginative takes on how the Prince of Darkness might escape from hell into the world. After a priest finds a huge vial filled with some unidentifiable slime, he requests that a scientist and his students to help him figure out what it really is; finding out what it is, is only a small part of the problem, once they find out they’ll realize it’s already too late. The end is already beginning, will they be able to stop it in time?

Prince of Darkness IMDB listing

They Live (1988)

They Live (1988)

This is one alien horror flick that stands out among the rest, They Live (1988) is a movie that is classic from the time that it was made and is definitely worthy of a shout out or three. If you’ve ever wondered where the line, “I’ve come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass—and I’m all out of bubble gum,” comes from, you’re in luck. Aside from the wrestler to actor shenanigans with Rowdy Roddy Piper, the acting is what you might expect from a movie made in the late eighties. Forget action movie alien invasions, this kind of invasion is creepier than any other witnessed in cinema history.

They Live IMDB listing

In the Mouth of Madness (1994) Movie Poster

In the Mouth of Madness (1994)

This movie shows how society might devolve if violent books, movies, and video games were truly to blame for the erratic behavior of human beings—can an author really have the sway over the way people act, well if you were to read a Sutter Cane book, you might not be able to control yourself at all. It might sound far-fetched, but the easily persuaded might be just a short read away from storming the streets with axes in hand. This is not a predecessor of The Purge (2013), it’s another Carpenter movie that stands on its own within the horror genre, as a horror ride of the imagination—or at least the imagination of an author who wants to cause people to go mad.

In The Mouth of Madness IMDB listing

Village of the Damned (1995) Movie Poster

Village of the Damned (1995)

This is one of those movies where the terror develops over time, but if you’re one of those people who finds small children disturbing, this is definitely one that you might enjoy. What I like most about this movie is the creep factor—it’s not scary in the traditional sense, no real startling moments, nothing is going to pop out and scare you. The focus of the fear factor here is how it would feel to have a malevolent, creepy child in control of your actions. It reminds me of The Bad Seed (1956) if Rhoda were able to force you to kill yourself with her eyes.

Village of the Damned IMDB listing

Vampires (1998) Movie Poster

Vampires (1998)

Along with zombies, vampires have been creatures that have been overworked to death in books, films, and television shows, everyone has a new take on it to show why their vampires are somehow better, scarier, or more realistic than everyone else’s. Originally creatures that would incite fear, now they’re more and more often portrayed as objects of romance, love interests, so overdone that they went from truly evil, to rebellious bad boys. Fear not, Vampires (1998) is still in the genre of horror, where vampires truly are evil creatures suited only for hunting.

Vampires IMDB listing

The Ward Movie Poster

The Ward (2010)

Not conceived to be a true horror movie, this paranormal thriller offers more in the way of jump scares than much of anything else—while it doesn’t boast a well-known cast, the cast does a convincing job of selling their fear. The plot is enjoyable and decently executed, nevermind some of the plot holes, but the climax of fear is typically punctuated by a complete loss of the moment, followed directly by a cheap startle. The only thing that makes this movie less enjoyable is the ghost itself; we get a clear view of her from the beginning and there is no room left for that character and plot device to grow. It has its own share of twists and turns though, so the important thing about this movie is to watch until the very end—it doesn’t end exactly how you think it would.

The Ward IMDB listing

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The Best Supernatural Horror Streaming Now

Categories
Best Of Best of Movies Featured Scary Movies and Series
Updated March 19th 2021

Have you been endlessly clicking through each of your streaming services looking for the best supernatural horror movies and series? Look no further as we have taken the time to watch them all and select the best supernatural horror currently streaming on HULU, NETFLIX, and AMAZON PRIME. You won’t find slasher films in this list because we prefer the supernatural. Included but not limited to hauntings, possessions, monsters, and complete and total psychological mind f#$%ks. We’ll keep updating so you don’t have to mindlessly scroll through endless movie lists like the zombie you might be someday.

Best Supernatural Horror on HULU

  1. The Wretched

75% Tomatometer “The atmosphere is eerie and there’s a nice twist I did not see coming.” Staci Layne Wilson

A young boy begins the journey of navigating not only his parent’s divorce but also fighting the old witch that has possessed the next-door neighbors. Great story and very well executed with a classic twist in the end. Like witch horror movies? So do we and here is our best of witch horror list.

  1. Pyewacket

82% Tomatometer “The director is out for blood, and while this is a slow-burn affair that craftily bides its time until just the proper moment to unleash a flurry of dexterously ominous thrills, the craven wickedness of it all is portentously intoxicating.” Sara Michelle Fetters 

The angst of a teenage girl mixed with a bumpy relationship with her mother leads to grim things. Out for blood, the young girl performs an ancient death curse. Whose demise will it really end in?

  1. Lights out

76% Tomatometer “A lean, mean scare-machine, and a surprise contender for horror of the year. Seek it out. Then, for God’s sake, buy a bedside lamp.” Simon Crook

Rebecca could never tell fact from fiction in the dark as a child, and now her young brother faces the same problem. A supernatural entity has come to torment the two holding a strange attachment to their mother.

  1. Thelma

93% Tomatometer “Thelma is a wonderfully composed work, one that involves you at a pace of its own.” Rhys Tarling

A college student experiences a series of extreme seizures resulting in new supernatural abilities. Her new powers are dangerous and frightening, seemingly triggered by her love for another student. (In Norwegian, only has English subtitles)

  1. Welcome to Mercy

70% Tomatometer “A rare horror movie whose creators seriously represent both sides of a dilemma, and is therefore more mature than it seems at first glance.” Simon Abrams

Madaline visits a convent and learns she is on her way to becoming the Antichrist. She must work together with her friend August to confront and fight and demons inside of her.

Best Supernatural Horror on NETFLIX

  1. The Ritual

74% Tomatometer “It is a haunting film, with immaculate direction, impressive creature design, as well as well-acted and well-realised characters.” Adi Pramana

After a death in their group, four friends go for a hike through the Scandinavian wilderness. When they become lost in the forest, a series of evil and mysterious events plague the travelers.

  1. His House

100% Tomatometer “His House is a terrifying debut that breathes a fresh voice into the haunted-house subgenre.” Robert Daniels

A refugee couple from South Sudan have just escaped the horrors of their world, only to be thrown into another. Evil hides in the corners of their new English town life.

  1. Girl on the Third Floor

84% Tomatometer “Stevens shows that he is ready to earn his chops in the directors chair and it’s easy to get excited about what he plans to tackle next. Girl on the Third Floor has a lot of heart and some of it might be bleeding out right on the living room floor.” Ryan Larson

A couple moves into a house with plans to renovate it. The house has other plans though. 

  1. Apostle

78% Tomatometer “Evans departs from his usual action fare to weave a gripping story centered around unique Pagan-like mythology steeped in blood and sacrifice. It’s folk horror, but with a new level of brutality and viscera unlike most of its ilk.” Meagan Navarro

Thomas Richardson comes home to discover that his sister has been kidnapped by a cult. Thomas infiltrates the cult and learns of the true evil lurking within it.

  1. Polaroid

The critics hated it but we really enjoyed it so it’s on our list. Give it 15 minutes and you decide if it really is that rottne!

A highschool girl who has an innocent interest in photography finds a vintage polaroid camera and begins to experiment with it. But the people who have their picture taken with the camera are mysteriously met with a sudden and gruesome death.

  1. Little Evil

92% Tomatometer “Little Evil is fast-paced, funny, and more clever than you think it will be.” Eddie Strait 

This one has a comedy twist but who doesn’t love a horror comedy? A newlywed couple is enjoying their life with their five-year-old son who may or may not be the Antichrist.

Best Supernatural Horror on AMAZON PRIME

  1. Annabelle: Creation

71% Tomatometer “It’s perhaps one of the most exciting connective twists I’ve seen in a horror film.” Jordy Sirkin

Based on the famous haunted Annabelle doll. A nun and 6 orphaned girls are welcomed into a new California home. The owner’s 7-year-old daughter had passed away in that home a few years earlier, leaving a mysterious doll behind in her bedroom. One of the curious orphans discovers it and the evil inside of it.

  1. Devil

50% Tomatometer  This is another one where we watched and really enjoyed it. Critics be damned for messing with the devil in an elevator. “A taut, expert and engrossing thriller with sense of visual restraint that is refreshing in this age of abhorrent overexposure.” David Keyes

5 strangers are on a normal elevator ride until it gets stuck in the Philidelphia office tower. Their normal ride turns dark when they learn that the Devil is among them.

  1. It

86% Tomatometer “In the end, Muschietti’s film is a big, fat, gorgeously produced love letter to King’s epic novel.” Sara Michelle Fetters

Based on Stephen King’s novel, this movie follows the journey of seven young outcasts. They meet the evilest ancient being out there that emerges from the depths of the sewers every 27 years. They all must overcome their fears to banish the clown, Pennywise.

  1. Midsommar

83% Tomatometer “Ari Aster’s approach to horror filmmaking seeps into your subconsciousness with great effect, lingering like an uninvited guest.” Wenlei Ma

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/midsommar

A young couple struggling with their relationship decide to go on a trip to a Swedish festival. It turns into a nightmare when the locals show their true colors.

  1. Possum

90% Tomatometer “[Possum’s] shiver-inducing, claustrophobic, hauntingly brilliant nightmare fuel, powered by an engagingly disturbing central performance from Sean Harris.” Joey Keogh

A puppeteer has to relive his childhood nightmares and past secrets.

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The Best Witch Horror Films – This is Why You Should Not Mess With Witches!

Categories
Featured Scary Movies and Series

What’s really so horrifying about witches? Is it the stereotypical vision of the green old hag with a hooked nose, chanting foreign words over a bubbling cauldron? Or is it the idea that beings who have an extraordinary power can choose to curse the unwitting among us? The common concept of witches that we see in movies and books, or heard from overtly religious sources, is that they have access to some kind of dark power or force that they have the ability to manipulate for their own purposes. The fear is derived from the idea that we don’t have complete control over our own lives, that someone or perhaps something out there is pulling the strings and directing us to our doom. What do witches do anyway? Are they summoning demons for their own benefit, or to send them to possess another person? These kinds of questions are what led nineteen men and women to be accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials–unlike common belief, the accused were hung by the neck until dead.

The modern concept of witches shows that they aren’t actually the old, ugly, and hook-nosed women like the folklore might have you believe. They aren’t even technically evil–at least not in the traditional sense–what was and is still often considered evil is actually simply self-serving. Witches can be both incredibly beautiful and good-natured, like Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, or Cordelia from American Horror Story: Coven or it can go the other was as seen in these movies. Moral of the story, whether a witch is good or bad, you might not want to mess with them. After all, there is a reason why witches are so often cast as the bad guys in horror movies–the ability to summon demons through the use of black magic isn’t exactly a calming image!

The Wretched (2019)

The Wretched Witch Horror Film

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8305806/

Rotten Tomatoes: 74%

In this witch horror film, a defiant teenage boy is sent to live with his father for the summer on the coast. Things are rocky from the beginning when he is forced to meet his father’s new girlfriend. It only get’s worse though as he quickly discovers something is not right in the neighborhood. At first, it is strange noises and unusual sightings. Then his new neighbors begin to act strangely. When their young boy disappears and they act as though he never existed he realizes something far more sinister has occurred.

At first, no one believes him as he has pushed away his father and new friends. So he does what any caring teenage neighborhood boy would do. He takes matters into his own hands. Once he discovers there is witchcraft afoot he convinces a local girl to help him out. They investigate and ultimately try to take on the witch.

This tale has great twists and turns that we will not get into so no spoiler alerts here. This was an indie horror film that quickly rose to the top 10 on Netflix in 2020. You would never know it was low budget as the writing, acting and effects are all wonderfully done. Highly recommended and enjoy the the horror!

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Pumpkin Head Movie Poster

imdb.com/title/tt0095925/

Rotten Tomatoes: 68%

It’s not an uncommon theme in the horror genre – a grieving parent loses their child in a devastating way and goes to desperate measures to get revenge on those who wronged them. This is just what happened in Pumpkinhead, when Ed Harley visits a witch and begs for her help in getting revenge on his young son’s killer. Throw in one disfigured corpse and a bit of blood magic, and all hell breaks loose… literally.

The witch summons a gigantic, demonic monster that goes on a killing spree, and unapologetically refuses to help even after Harley comes to his senses and begs her to stop Pumpkinhead. She knew exactly what she was doing, and was as much of a witch in the film as she was a modern-day troll for all those seeking vengeance.

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Sleepy Hollow Movie Poster

imdb.com/title/tt0162661/

Rotten Tomatoes: 77%

Before Johnny Depp was doing whatever it is he does now, he was playing an NYC policeman trying to uncover the brutal beheadings of a bunch of town people. It wasn’t a witch doing the beheading, but it was an undercover witch who summoned the Headless Horseman to finish off all those who had betrayed her. Vengeance is a common theme when it comes to witches, it seems, as Lady Van Tassel sold her soul to the devil after people turned on her as a child after the death of her parents. 

Moral of the story? Always be kind to others and show them mercy… because you never know when they’re a secret witch who will make heads roll.

The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring Movie Poster

imdb.com/title/tt1457767/

Rotten Tomatoes: 85%

Many of the witches in pop culture are pretty easy on the eyes, like Sabrina Spellman or Melisandre from Game of Thrones (at least, with her disguise on). Bathsheba from The Conjuring is not one of them. This witch is not only terrifying but extremely evil. Between being accused of witchcraft in the 1800’s, sacrificing her week-old child to the devil and killing herself at 3:07AM (also known as the devil’s hour,) she’s about as bad of a witch as you can find.

She haunts and kills all those who reside in her old house, including the Perron family in the very first film of The Conjuring universe. Bathsheba is a major villain in one of the best horror films of the 2010s, but we definitely wouldn’t want to come across her in our new house.

The Witch (2016)

The Witch Movie Poster

imdb.com/title/tt6674752/

Rotten Tomatoes: 90%

Unlike a lot of horror films these days… The Witch is set in the 1630s and markets itself as a “New England folktale.” It follows a family banished from their Puritan plantation town over a religious dispute. As they set themselves up in a farm near a secluded forest – which honestly, doesn’t sound like a great idea at all – they start to encounter a lot of spooky things, mostly related to their eldest daughter Thomasin.

It’s a great firsthand look at a young girl being accused of witchcraft… especially since she very well might just be one. 

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project Movie Poster

imdb.com/title/tt0185937/

Rotten Tomatoes: 87%

Sure, this film may be a bit outdated now… but it was a huge “thing” when it was released back in 1999. The found-footage concept has been used by a ton of other horror blockbusters, including Paranormal Activity, and even 20 years later, kids still don’t know that you shouldn’t follow a supposed witch into a creepy forest. It can’t be said enough… don’t mess with witches!

Maybe we missed a few horror films that feature the dark magic side of witches? We’re always open to suggestions so find us on social media or add a comment and we’ll update this until we have the ultimate witches in horror movies list!

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