Love and witchcraft are not usual bedfellows. Most of the time when we see a witch on screen she is wicked and is far too filled with hate to be bothered by love. Sometimes though we so get a witch on screen that is interested in getting her heart’s desire and ultimately uses her powers to help herself out. Often though, these spells don’t quite work out as intended.
The Love Witch opens on Friday and sees young woman Elaine on the hunt for love. After her divorce she’s feeling rather lonely and whilst seeking someone to shower with all the love she has contained within her, starts brewing love potions. However, there’s a slight hiccup and her would-be suitors start turning up dead.
A love spell gone awry is nothing new to the world of film and television. Here’s a run down of our favourite mishaps.
The Craft
The Craft is one of the few truly great films about witchcraft. For the most part the ideas and incantations used in the film are pretty authentic. It also, for a teenage girl in the nineties [like this writer], made witchcraft look cool. There was hardly a slumber party that happened in the late nineties that didn’t include a game of Light as a Feather, and who didn’t want to bind their enemies from causing more harm? That being said, The Craft did offer a cautionary tale about love spells.
Sarah (Robin Tunney) is new to LA and is soon befriended by football star Chris (Skeet Ulrich). The relationship doesn’t last though as Chris spreads some nasty rumours after their first date doesn’t end as he had hoped. It is then that she falls in with the witchy crowd, Nancy (Fairuza Balk), Bonnie (Neve Campbell) and Rochelle (Rachel True). Now having four members, their coven is finally complete, add to that the fact that Sarah is in fact a natural witch, their spells start working. Each member of the coven has an agenda for their magic: Nancy doesn’t want to be poor white trash anymore, Bonnie wants to be beautiful, Rochelle just wants to stop being victim to a racist bully, and Sarah strangely wants Chris back, despite his wicked tongue.
At first her spell seems harmless enough, with Chris following her every command, but things soon escalate. Chris is soon obsessed with Sarah, stalking her, and turning up to her house at odd hours. Things take a further turn for the worst when Chris attempts to force himself on her during a date.
Nancy is livid and seeks to teach him a lesson – except she actually just wants him for herself. She tracks him down and then uses magic to change herself into Sarah, confusing the young lad. As the real Sarah bursts in Chris becomes confused, Nancy is furious and Chris is soon thrust out of the bedroom window, dying on impact.
Supergirl
In 1984 the world was given a Supergirl film. Yes, way back before the CW got its claws on the character, Helen Slater played the titular Kryptonian heroine. In all honesty, it’s all kinds of terrible, made all the worse for seeing Supergirl showdown with a witch. Out of all the possible foes that Supergirl could have had to face down, she was paired with an evil witch – Selena (Faye Dunaway). The main reason for their feud? They both like the same guy, Ethan.
In order to bag Ethan for herself, Selena drugs him with a love potion. The potion will make him fall in love with the first person he sees (classic). Rather than waiting around for him to wake up, she disappears, causing him to fall for Supergirl’s alter-ego Linda Lee. This obviously spoils Selena’s plan and causes a lot of animosity between the pair. Supergirl ends up in the Phantom Zone, but manages to get out and take Selena down once and all. Luckily for Supergirl it turns out that Ethan still loves her even after the spell has worn off.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
It’s not just the ladies that cast love spells, sometimes men do to. In episode sixteen of the second season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendan), one of Buffy’s loyal Scooby gang dabbled in witchcraft. The episode is fittingly titled Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
After getting dumped by Cordelia Chase, Xander employs the help of school witch Amy Maddison to cast a love spell on his ex to win her back. However, the spell backfires and Xander finds himself the object of every female in Sunnydale’s affections, except Cordelia.
Doesn’t sound particularly tough does it – a horde of people in lust with you – but love spells are never what they seem. The female population becomes so enamoured with Xander that they start to get vicious with each other. Buffy finds herself turned into a rat by a jealous Amy, and Cordelia is attacked by her groupies. The only saving grace is that an infatuated Drusilla saves his life from Angelus. Luckily the spell is reversed and normality resumes. Well, as much as it can do in Sunnydale.
The Love Witch
The latest in the love spell gone awry saga is The Love Witch, directed by Anna Biller. Elaine (Samantha Robinson) is a beautiful young witch, determined to find someone to love her. After losing her husband, she flees San Francisco and moves into a Gothic Victorian apartment in Arcata. Once there, she causes quite the stir. Making her living painting and crafting candles to sell in the local Wiccan store, Elaine is a self-sufficient female, but she’s lonely.
Claiming to be full of love to give, she seeks out to find a man worthy of her affections, one who can love her the way she deserves to be loved. Impatience gets the better of her and she decides that the faster way to get her man is via a potent love potion. Her first intended – a teacher called Wayne – seems like a great guy, but Elaine’s potion proves too potent and Wayne ends up dead.
Undeterred by this unfortunate event, Elaine continues her quest, leaving a slew of unintended victims in her wake. Then she crosses paths with handsome, stoic police officer, Griff – will she risk the ill-effects of casting her spell again, or can she win him over all by herself?
The Love Witch comes to UK cinemas, Digital Download and VOD 10th March 2017. Read our review now.
