The Love Witch

2016 "She loved men... to death"
6.2| 2h1m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 11 November 2016 Released
Producted By: Anna Biller Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.lifeofastar.com
Synopsis

A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.

... View More
Stream Online

Stream with Prime Video

Director

Producted By

Anna Biller Productions

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.
Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
speakers There are some excellent reviews on here, so i am only going to try and add to them and not repeat, nor will I go over the plot.To the casual viewer, the first impression may be that they are watching an old film, this is quite deliberate; the lighting, the colours, the make-up, all hark back to the 60s and 70s. Then someone pulls out a mobile phone or you notice that Trish is driving a modern BMW. The dissonance is striking and adds to the undercurrent of unease.The acting is very deliberate, much as it is in Twin Peaks; the subtext is not as convoluted as it is there, but it adds to the old-fashioned texture. Unfortunately, this causes a major miss-step when you can't tell if the acting is bad or if that's the way they were told to behave; I'm looking at you, crowd scene in the strip-club. Which reminds me, there is nudity in the film; really not sure why some people are making a bit deal about it, it's pretty innocuous.The overall theme is suffocating love, embodied in the glamorous form of Samantha Robinson, pitch-perfect as the horribly self-involved witch of the title, living in her insane fantasy life. She is ably supported in this by all the main actors and the director herself, who created the costumes, the amazing rug, the spell book and so much of the background.Maybe 2 hours is a little too long, but I really enjoyed this film and look forward to more from this director.
MrGKB ...a colorful though utterly vacuous trip through writer/director/editor/costumer/producer (deep breath) composer/designer/editor/bottlewasher (another deep breath) janitor/thankfully not actor Anna "I woulda if I coulda" Biller's risible meditation on love, sex, and witchery. There's really little to say about this fast-forward darling other than, "Gosh, it's pretty, and the lensing ain't too hateful." Thank you for leaving at least a few things to the professionals, Anna. Featuring low-rent Westworld performances from virtually the entire cast, including an inexplicably nudity-shy lead, "The Love Witch" is as pure an exercise in tedium as I've seen in a long time. Hopefully, this is enough verbiage to post; I'm just damn sorry I wasted time with this one, even on fast-forward, and I'm hoping this will warn at least a few folks from doing the same. Without question, easily missed without a second thought.
Argemaluco "Two hours!", I thought before watching The Love Witch. Most of the independent horror movies run between 80 and 90 minutes, and I usually prefer them that way, because they will probably won't have too much filler or irrelevant elements. However, two hours later, I ended up liking The Love Witch pretty much. Sure, the film still feels a bit longer than it should; however, on the other hand, the vision from director/screenwriter/producer/editor/decorator/costume designer/composer (I'm not kidding) Anna Biller requires that languid rhythm in order to establish the surrealistic "erotic horror" atmosphere cultivated during the '70s by European filmmakers such as Jean Rollin, Roy Ward Baker and Jess Franco. Besides, the slowness of The Love Witch allows us to admire the extraordinary Technicolor cinematography from that time, full of saturated colors, bizarre frames and long takes. Speaking of which, Biller composed a few songs for The Love Witch, but the soundtrack is composed by the work of masters such as Ennio Morricone and Piero Piccioni, whose scores for the films Il Diavolo nel Cervello and Le Mani sulla Città, among other ones, are a good complement to the dreamlike tone of The Love Witch. And I can't forget to mention the amusing performances from Samantha Robinson, Laura Waddell, Jared Sanford, Jennifer Ingrum, Gian Keys, Jeffrey Vincent Parise and Robert Seeley; their works seem rigid and theatrical, but it's an intentional decision which solidly complements the creative alchemy offered by Biller. Regarding the previously mentioned "erotic horror", The Love Witch includes some sex scenes, but they are never as explicit as the ones from the films it emulates; and besides, their semi-humorous context makes them seem almost innocent. For better or for worse, The Love Witch is a clear style over substance case; however, the style is so attractive that it compensates the weak substance to a big degree, so I partially recommend this film for what it says, but fully because of how it says it. In summary: a very interesting work from Biller, which reveals her as a filmmaker with a potent vision.
TdSmth5 A girl named Elaine moves to a new town and a new place. The real estate agent befriends her and invites her for tea to some fancy place. They talk about relationship and love. Elaine is single after the death of her ex and is desperate for love. The agent has been married for years and doesn't understand Elaine's need for love. Turns out Elaine is also a witch. She starts making products for witchcraft and selling them to a local spiritual store. In flashbacks we learn about her ex a bit; we also see her ceremony of initiation. At a strip joint she runs into her witchcraft masters, some couple.Soon Elaine meets a professor who instantly falls for her. He takes her to his cabin where she cooks for him, does a little strip dance and he goes completely crazy for her, gets sick and dies. She does some witchcraft with her urine, a used tampon and some other stuff and buries the body.When the real estate agent travels out of town, Elaine hooks up with and seduces her husband who also goes mad for her and ends up committing suicide.Meanwhile, the cops start investigating the disappearance of the professor and find the body and the witchcraft. Soon they find out about Elaine and interview her. Elaine immediately falls for the cop in charge. They go out on a date, end up in some goofy renaissance fair organized by the witch couple who do some binding/marriage ceremony for the two. With that the investigation into Elaine is dropped. When the real estate woman goes to Elaine's place she finds things she shouldn't and provides it to the police. When Elaine meets her guy at the strip joint, the patrons want her burned. They manage to escape. And Elaine won't be able to help herself in regard to her new guy.The Love Witch does have the look and feel of a late 60s early 70s movie. It also has a certain timelessness. It's not clear how much time goes by in the movie. This is enhanced by anachronistic elements like contemporary cars and cell phones. Some people object to it, I find it fine. Male left-brain thinking won't get you very far with this movie. It is true that the movie is too long and a bit too kitschy. The cheesy marriage thing in the woods should have been removed altogether.One does wonder though what the message of this movie is. In that regard it's a success though because one expects something of a message. Our witch pretty much only talks about love and has interesting things to say about relationships. She says she's addicted to love, but once she has men madly in love with her, she ends up...killing them. She doesn't like men who cry, but the tough men she likes aren't the ones who fall in love with her, as usually happens in life.Our witch to some extent represents some old-fashioned view. She dreams of preparing meals for her man, of satisfying his needs, something the real estate agent finds outrageous and beneath her. She represents the current view which is all about equality and power. Of course those two are mutually exclusive. And sure enough, while Elaine is conducting her seduction ritual she cooks and completely sympathizes with her victims much to their astonishment. They've never met a woman who understood them.I appreciated this unabashed femininity by Elaine and the movie as a whole. The problem is that it's not clear whether the writer/director is celebrating or mocking it.The lovely Samantha Robinson carries this movie. While others complain about her stiff acting, she's not the only one acting this way in the movie, which suggests it's what the director wanted. A movie about a witch in that era should have included more nudity, especially by our lead actress, but it's another area the director isn't quite sure. There's plenty of Tarzan nudity with actresses wearing underpants and their hair covering their chest.There's a lot to like about The Love Witch but it's not entirely satisfying either. But in a time that celebrates transactional relationships and where partners are seen as an aspirational accessory instead of as companions, this movie is much needed.