SOTW: The Witches Review

Luke and his Grandma move to England after his parents die in an accident. Well-informed by his Grandma's tales, Luke notices that there are witches everywhere. When he becomes trapped in a conference room full of these nasty, vile creatures, he overhears their plot to rid the world of all children.

This Jim Henson movie is based on the novel The Witches by Roald Dahl. It's full of suspense, danger and creepy witches. As you'd expect from a Henson movie, it's got great visual effects, make up and adorable puppets.

English viewers will recognize a lot of the main cast, such as Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean, Blackadder), Jane Horrocks (Little Voice, Bubbles from Absolutely Fabulous), and Bill Paterson (Law & Order: UK).

The movie is not as good and scary as the book, mostly because Roald Dahl's vivid writing and Quentin Blake's iconic drawings make it very easy to immerse in the world of the story for yourself. It's not quite as easy to get into this movie.

Anjelica Huston is very convincing as the head-witch though. She's elegant and aristocratic in human form but once freed of her disguise she really does seem like the most wretched woman on Earth. Luke and his Grandma are very sweet.

All in all it's still an enjoyable movie, and a good one to watch if you're babysitting/childminding because I bet that young kids will be on the edge of their seat.

SOTW: Hocus Pocus Review

In the late 1600's the three Sanderson sisters (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy) are sentenced to death. Thackary Binx follows his little sister into their Salem home and finds them sucking the life out of her. But before the town can get their vengeance, they cast a spell which will bring them back when a virgin lights a certain "black-flame" candle in their house.

It's 1993, Max Dennison (Omri Katz) and his family have just moved to Salem. He hates the town, the school and all the excitement about Halloween and most of all doesn't believe in the Sanderson legend. When forced to take his little sister Dani (Thora Birch) out trick-or-treating they end up at his crush's house.

Allison (Vinessa Shaw) is bored with the party at her house, so they decide to visit the Sanderson house. The sceptical Max ends up lighting the black-flame candle, landing them, and especially Dani, into big trouble...


Hocus Pocus has a very good cast, from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker (5 years before Sex and the City starts) to my favorite in this movie, the young Thora Birch. She's sassy, smart and funny.

This movie is directed by Kenny Ortega, who was also involved with Michael Jackson's "This is It", the High School Musical films and some Ally McBeal and Gilmore Girls episodes. As you might expect knowing this, it's quirky, fast-paced and it has got some great music. The song Sarah Sanderson sings to lure the children is quite hauntingly beautiful and there is a party scene where Winifred sing the awesome "I Put A Spell on You".

I love the witches' costumes and make-up. The whole look of this movie is just perfect for the season. It's got creepy graveyards, halloween decorations everywhere and the town has that warm autumn look during the day and a suitably ominous feel during the night.



I'd definitely recommend watching this, especially if you've got little kids around. Hocus Pocus is a great family film which captures the spirit of Halloween perfectly and will set the right mood for a night of dressing up, trick-or-treating and telling scary stories in the dark!

SOTW: The Craft Review

Sarah (Robin Tunney) is new at school. She gets talking to Chris (Skeet Ulrich) who tells her about Nancy (Fairuza Balk), Bonnie (Neve Campbell) and Rochelle (Rachel True). He warns Sarah not to get involved with these weird girls because they are witches.

Nancy, Bonnie and Rochelle are looking for a fourth member to complete their magic circle. They need someone to help them invoke the spirit of "Manon". After Sarah discovers that she is a natural witch, an inheritance from her deceased mother, she seems to be just what they've been looking for.

With the addition of Sarah, the girls become very powerful. They wreak revenge, unleash a love spell, make themselves more beautiful and eventually manage to invoke Manon. Inexperienced as they are, they neglect the rule of three - everything you do, you receive back in threefold. From here on everything goes horribly wrong.

I've watched this movie a few times before when I was in my teens (and a goth, into wicca etc.) and really liked it. Upon rewatching it I found that the story had a real heaviness to it that I didn't remember about it.

It incorporates issues such as suicide, racism and (near) rape and I found it harder to sit through now I wasn't so focused on the magical element.

The overall mood is very joyless and especially the bleak, final face-off I found really hard to watch. It has some good (and a few dated) effects, cool 90's fashion and a good soundtrack. Charmed's theme song How Soon Is Now by the Smiths features early on.


Maybe I just wasn't really in the mood for it, or have outgrown it. But other than those few good points, it didn't entertain me. The ending was too weak to relieve the tension built throughout the film and I came away from it in a pretty bad mood.

If you're just getting into magic, witchcraft and the whole goth-scene, maybe give it a try. Besides that, I wouldn't really recommend it.

The Powder Room Presents: Season Of The Witch!

Halloween is definitely one of my favourite holidays. I love all of the decorations, costumes and spookiness, so leading up to the 31st itself I will be bringing you two Halloween-related movie reviews a week, every Wednesday and Saturday.

Inspired by the holiday's pagan origins and the many great creature features and witch flicks, I will be reviewing some of my all-time favourites to get you in the spirit of the season.

Scary, charming, fun and magical, witches have been the stars of many great stories and girlie fright-fests, including my first selection: 'Practical Magic', starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Be sure to come back on Wednesday to find out my verdict, and look out for other Halloween related articles coming to the Powder Room throughout the rest of this month.

Don't forget to tell a friend!

- Miss Daiquiris