Movie: The Love Witch (2016)

In The Love Witch, the main thing to take note is that the makeup, costuming and music are excellent and the way it was filmed is reminiscent of the 1960s/ 1970s Technicolor movies. The color palette is vibrant and trippy, and it's a good thing the makeup is flawless because there's lots of closeups. The clothing even looks vintage! You can tell that films of the past had a big influence in this movie. I was seduced by how pretty the visuals are...the storyline and acting on the other hand, was just ok. It touches on feminism and witches, but makes witches out to be sleazy murderers.

Eye candy...

***SPOILERS***

I did some reading up on The Love Witch and most reviews call it a "black comedy". Sure it's campy, but it isn't that funny. The protagonist, Elaine Parks is a divorced widow that refuses to let her verbally abusive ex-husband go. It's implied that she caused his death. So distraught by his death, she meets up with a witch coven and becomes a "reborn witch". She is empowered with her skills and new religion even though the High Priest in charge is a sleazy scumbag. (A total reference to the patriarchal exploitation found in 1960s and 1970s horror movie representations of cults.)

Elaine's so desperate to find the ultimate fantasy. She wants a knight in shining armour to be "in love with her as much as she is in love with him" that she is perfecting a love potion to seduce and trap men. Unfortunately her potions make any of the men that drink them, get clingy and emotional ~ her ultimate turn off. Their love for her is so strong it kills them. She gets what she thinks she wants. Not only that, but she leaves her DNA all over a crime scene with rotting food. Then she finds the man of her dreams and when he doesn't fall for her spells and rituals it's flat out vengeance.

The problem with this is so many women in real life actually think that finding love will complete their lives, she's a stereotype. Just the like main character's hair is an over- the-top wig, using a spell to force love is fake. It's social commentary on women that are looking for love, so it's not that funny. It also has dialogue about women's power through sexuality, reminding the viewer that this movie is a commentary with lots of schlock. Elaine isn't looking for love, but power and revenge.

I wish the main character was more about recovering from her abuse in a healthy way. There's a voice over at one point towards the middle of the movie where she remembers the conversations of her ex-husband and father. They were verbally abusive and treated her awful and now she's using men for her own gain.

At one point she says, "When I die, I'd like to come back as a cat." So there's that.

I give this 3.5 pentacles out of 5.

Here's the trailer...