Until I looked a bit more closely at the listing for this, I didn’t realize it was just a decade old. All the stills and clips I saw looked exactly like a late 60s/early 70s flick. But, no, this is from 2016.
The Love Witch is flagged as a horror film, but what it really is is a dark satire of love and relationship ideas, and what people will do to justify their actions in the name of “love.” Sure, there’s murder and witches and some blood and death, but it’s far from what I’d call a horror film.
Unless love really scares you…
Visually, this film is amazing, especially for an indie production. They 100% captured the aesthetic and feel of the era they were going for. If not for the more modern cars that show up (mostly in the background, but sometimes featured) and the one kind of jarring appearance of a cell phone (there was no need for that part of the scene), the only give-away would be the lack of film grain.
Even the dialog and core story feel like a hunk of historical exploitation cinema. While fun, that’s also one of the ultimate weaknesses of the film as a whole. It kind of loves to hear itself talk, which contributes to some pacing issues and an overall feeling that it’s just too long.
I also wasn’t expecting a renaissance musical number to add to the run time… but at least that was fun.
There’s definitely about 30 minutes that could get cut out of this without losing anything that makes it what it is. This is the sort of thing that happens when you have a solo writer/director, especially when they’re also serving as the editor.
Tip for filmmakers: always try to get a critical set of eyes on your desired cut… and then listen to suggestions… and, as they say, don’t hesitate to kill your darlings to make a better picture.
That aside, there is a lot to find interesting in this. It definitely hits a lot of common talking points about witchcraft and gets enough of them right, at least for some iterations of some areas of the craft. It also nails some of the common misunderstandings–and ways people exploit the ideas put forth in some traditions. It’s still a bit sensationalized and sexualized, but not even close to fully demonized. (It’s also not just there for nudity, though there is a bit more of that than I expected.)
Overall, I wanted to like this more than I did. It’s a solid effort and, especially on the visual level, worth checking out. But with the pacing problem and what I would easily call excessive run time, it’s not something I’m really going to insist anyone needs to see.
- The Love Witch – October 4, 2026
- Black Chariot (2026) – October 3, 2026
- Earth vs The Spider – October 3, 2026
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