20 best film witches of all time

SEATTLE, WA – JUNE 07: Anjelica Huston watches a clip of the film ‘Witches’ after receiving the Seattle International Film Festival Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award’ at Egyptian Theater, Seattle on June 7, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Mat Hayward/Getty Images for Seattle International Film Festival)

Witches in fiction can be sympathetic, scary, and even funny. Read about 20 of the most unforgettable witches in the horror film genre and beyond.

The witch is, to say the least, a complicated figure. Is she a symbol of female power and knowledge? Or could she be merely another symbol concocted by a patriarchy determined to paint women as demons?

Things are complicated even further thanks to the course of history. Depending on when and where you are, witchcraft could be many things. It might be a serious religious practice and a deeply cherished set of beliefs. Or it could be a silly cutout of a green-faced woman at a kids’ Halloween party. In certain places, the specter of the witch is horrible enough to demand penance and intensified reading of religious texts.

In some of the worst-case scenarios, accusations of witchcraft could even lead to violence and death. The Puritans of Colonial America were sometimes so focused on the specter of witchcraft within their communities that it led to collective mania, as in the witch trials that swept through Salem, Massachusetts. Earlier instances of witchcraft accusations in Connecticut proved that Salem’s woes were nothing new.

All of these attitudes have filtered through into various books, shows, and films. Witches are shorthand for almost anything desired by a filmmaker. In the right hands, they can also be effectively chilling and frightening.

Of course, it should be clear that this list deals only in fictional witches. In the real world, witchcraft in its various forms is a powerful and important religious practice for many people. Though some of the films draw on history and broad elements of modern magic, actual witchcraft remains distinct from the make-believe world of film.

A quick warning: some of these slides contain spoilers. A few may also contain horror movie clips with gore or intense situations or adult language. Please proceed with caution if you’re sensitive to these kinds of things.

With that in mind, read on to learn about some of the best witches ever committed to film, not necessarily in particular order.