The Witches (1990) Review

 

So after a couple of days of thinking I've decided to review the 1990 version of The Witches since I reviewed the remake. So let's begin.

The Witches is a 1990 dark fantasy comedy movie based on the 1983 book of the same name by Roald Dahl. The movie was produced by Jim Henson Productions and Lorimar Film Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. The Witches was written by Allan Scott and directed by Nicolas Roeg.

The story is while staying at a hotel with his grandma Luke accidentally catches a group of witches plotting against every child in the world, they decide to punish him by turning him into a mouse. Now Luke and his grandma must put a stop to the witches plan before it's too late.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Mix

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Positives

One of the greatest things regrading this movie is the special effects. Mostly the makeup. I mean the Grand High Witch's true face is something I would definitely see in my nightmares, that face is just gross and disturbing. And the puppet work of mice was also very good, of course that's to be expected when the puppeteering was done by Jim Henson.

What also makes The Witches such a great movie was the dark tone. There's quite a lot of mature talk regrading death which is good. Just because this is called a kid's movie that doesn't mean a topic like that should be ignored.

Now after giving credit to the dark tone let me talk about the scares......holy crap. I'm surprised about how much stuff this movie was allowed to get away with. We see not one but two mice get brutally killed right in front of us. Not only that but there's that transformation scenes when people are being turned into mice. But I think the scariest thing in this movie was a story about a child being trapped in a painting. Just mere thought of something like that is something worse then those two brutal mice deaths I brought up previously.

The last thing I'll praise the film for is the performances. Anjelica Huston plays the role of the Grand High Witch to perfection. Her performance is definitely one of the best things about this movie. And to my surprise Rowan Atkinson (the guy who plays Mr. Bean) gave a really good serious role. I mean I wasn't expecting him to play a more serious character because all I've ever seen him play is Mr. Bean.

The Witches is definitely worthy of it's status of being a beloved classic. It has amazing special effects, a dark tone, good scares, and great performances.

My final rating is A Must Watch

Comparing This to The Remake

Now it probably goes without saying but I'm saying it anyways. Yes. Yes, this is definitely a better movie than the remake. But at the same time the newer movie isn't bad it's just okay. I feel as though if you want your kids to get into The Witches than I think as a nice beginners treatment is you have them watch the 2020 version first then you have them watch the original movie. Because the 90's film definitely has more of an edge so I think it would be best if you did it in that order.

Okay that's all for me. Come back on Monday, Nov 2nd for a brand new Raiders of The Lost Media. For this one I talk about the very controversial video game, Thrill Kill. Until then enjoy your Halloween.