What happens if you let one of the most talented horror directors make a children’s film? The answer is witch witches. And during Nicolas Roeg’s film (when the gondolas wear mourning) 35 years ago as “Family fun” Advertised and recommended in Germany aged 6 and over, he gave children and their parents nothing but nightmares.
Witches witches is a disturbing children’s horror film: What makes the fantasy shocker so bad? Witches of 1990 is based on Roald Dahl’s equally disturbing and same name. Already here the first warning bells ringingbecause Dahl conceived bizarre children’s horror stories like Charlie and the chocolate factory. He is constantly sending young people into life -threatening situations and often lovedly smiling adults want to go to their throats.That’s what it’s about in witches witches: Little young Luke knows that there are really witches, because his grandma is an expert in the field. After his parents die, his grandma goes on vacation with him. However, there is a secret witch conference in the same hotel. The witches of the UK want to completely free the country from children and the Oberhexe (Anjelica Huston) already has a plan.
What makes the fantasy film so bad: the cruel message for children
Not only has Luke lost his parents, he himself has to fight the whole film about survival. Every nice woman he meets could actually be a murderous witch. We learn right from the start that witches cannot be distinguished from normal women at first glance. Children learn witches in witches that in adults Thoughts of murder behind every smile can stick.
A scene is particularly worrying: While Luke plays Mother’s soul in his tree house at home, a woman stops on the street next to the garden. She doesn’t stop wanting to lure him down. He screams in panicking his grandma, but the witch continues to molest him. Ultimately, Luke is saved by the appearance of his grandmother, but the feeling of helplessness towards the witches remains the whole film.
What makes the fantasy film so bad: explicit and disgusting body horror
At witches witches, a lot of talent came together and behind the camera. Anjelica Houston’s spectacle of the Oberhexe is as charming as merciless. Your true face, one repulsive, cartilaginous witch merchantwas the last one where puppet master Jim Henson (the Muppets, the Dinos) worked before his death.
When the witches take off their faces and hair at their meeting, scratch the heads littered with wounds and leach their teeth, then it is nothing less than body horror. David Cronenberg (the fly) would be proud of it. The practical effects have been withstanding time and, from today’s perspective, seem even more extreme in the CGI-contaminated fantasy genre.
What makes the fantasy film so bad: the relentless opening story
A baby is pushed down a hill. A boy is transformed into a mouse. The above witch pulverizes a subtanine. None of it has as much effects as that Terrible story of Grandma Helgawith which the film begins.
Witches make children disappear in species where you cannot be caught, she says Luke. Helga’s girlfriend from childhood was caught by a witch on the way home. Six weeks later, her father will find the little Erica in an oil painting in the living room as a drawing in an oil painting. Nobody could ever free her from it and over the next few decades she got older and changed her position in the picture until she finally faded.
With this cruel pregnancy story the starts “Family fun” Witches witches. If you don’t have goose bumps now, you can no longer help.
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Although the end of the monstrous novel was mitigated in the film adaptation, the fantasy masterpiece is still a guarantee for disturbed children. Anyone who still wants to dare can stream witches in Germany at RTL+ in the subscription.
This article was first published by Moviepilot in a similar form in June 2023.