The 13 Best Witchy Movies of All Time – Classic Witch Films to Watch This Halloween

Witches have been casting spells on cinema audiences for nearly a century. From Veronica Lake’s mischievous ghost witch in the 1940s to Fairuza Balk’s gleefully unhinged Nancy in the ’90s, witchy films have given us glamour, chaos, sisterhood and some seriously iconic wardrobes.

This list leans into the classics. You’ll find old-school Hollywood charm, cult ’80s and ’90s favourites, a couple of Studio Ghibli comfort watches and one found-footage film that still makes us sleep with the light on. Whether you want something cosy, nostalgic or downright terrifying, there’s a witch here for your mood.

Not sure where to start? Our pick-by-mood guide below will point you to the perfect watch. And if you’ve just finished Practical Magic and want more of that vibe, skip ahead to our section on movies like Practical Magic.

Spooky season is here, so grab your coven and get cosy with these iconic witchy films!

1) Practical Magic (1998)

A magical dose of ’90s goodness! Practical Magic stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, sister witches raised by their eccentric aunts in a gorgeous old house by the sea. Based on Alice Hoffman’s novel, it’s still one of my most-watched witch films every autumn.

The Owens women carry a family curse: any man who falls in love with them is doomed. As the sisters go their separate ways, the curse finds them both, and a sceptical detective only complicates things further.

Expect the dreamiest kitchen in cinema, a midnight margarita party and both stars in their finest ’90s wardrobe. If you loved it, Practical Magic 2 brought Bullock and Kidman back to cinemas in September 2026.

2) Hocus Pocus (1993)

No witchy list is complete without the family favourite Hocus Pocus. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy are the Sanderson sisters, three Salem witches hanged in 1693 who return 300 years later when a sceptical teenager lights the Black Flame Candle on Halloween night.

What follows is a riot of spell-casting, singing and chasing children around Salem, with a talking black cat named Binx along for the ride. It’s camp, chaotic and endlessly rewatchable.

Pair it with some witchy loungewear for peak sofa comfort. Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) arrived 29 years later and makes a fun double bill.

3) The Craft (1996)

Probably our favourite film on this list! In The Craft, new girl Sarah falls in with three outcasts at her Los Angeles Catholic school, completing their coven of four. Once they’re together, their powers grow fast, and things quickly go awry.

Fairuza Balk’s Nancy Downs steals the show, giving one of the most iconic witch performances of all time. The film’s grungy ’90s style still shapes witchy fashion today.

This is the ideal film to watch with your own coven – preferably in full-black witchy tops and chokers! Include the sequel, ‘The Craft: Legacy’ (2020) for a movie marathon moment.

4) The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

In The Witches of Eastwick, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer play Alex, Jane and Sukie, three bored friends in a sleepy New England town who unknowingly conjure up the man of their dreams. Enter Jack Nicholson as the charming, crude and very suspicious Daryl Van Horne.

When the women realise what they’ve summoned, they turn their own magic against him. Expect the best ’80s costuming you’ve ever seen and gloriously dated special effects.

Looking for costume inspiration? Check out our article on 13 iconic witches to dress as this Halloween.

5) Bell, Book and Candle (1958)

Old Hollywood glamour at its finest. In Bell, Book and Candle, Kim Novak plays Gillian, a chic New York witch who discovers her new neighbour Shep (James Stewart) is about to marry her old college rival. Naturally, she casts a love spell on him with the help of her Siamese cat, Pyewacket.

The catch? Witches who fall in love lose their powers. Gillian has to decide what kind of life she really wants. Those who love this film really LOVE it, and Novak’s all-black wardrobe is pure witchy inspo.

6) I Married a Witch (1942)

A 1940s gem, I Married a Witch is a total charmer. Veronica Lake plays Jennifer, a witch burned in Puritan New England who curses her accuser’s descendants. Centuries later, a lightning strike sets her spirit free, and she sets out to make his politician descendant’s life a misery.

Her plan involves a love potion, and of course it backfires. This witty black-and-white screwball comedy is often credited as an inspiration for the TV series Bewitched. Its ending is very much of its time, but Veronica Lake’s mischief is timeless.

7) The Witches of Oz (1939–2025)

Okay, we know: squeezing four films into one spot is cheating. But Oz’s witches come as a set, and we couldn’t bear to leave any of them out.

It all starts with The Wizard of Oz (1939). Judy Garland’s Dorothy is swept from sepia Kansas into glorious Technicolor Oz, where she meets Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke) and makes an enemy of the Wicked Witch of the West, after a house lands on her sister. Based on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it gave us the ruby slippers, the flying monkeys and the Oscar-winning ‘Over the Rainbow’.

Margaret Hamilton’s cackling, green-skinned witch is the reason witches have been green in pop culture ever since. She was so committed to the role that she was badly burned filming her fiery exit from Munchkinland. Nearly 90 years on, it remains a universal childhood classic.

Return to Oz (1985), on the other hand, is surreal nightmare fuel. Disney’s unofficial sequel opens with Dorothy sent for electroshock therapy by Aunt Em, before she escapes back to an Oz left in ruins. Along the way she meets a mechanical man, a pumpkin-headed companion and a talking hen, and runs into the eerie Wheelers and Princess Mombi, a witch who swaps between a collection of heads kept in glass cabinets. Perfect for Halloween!

Fun fact: young Dorothy is played by Fairuza Balk in her film debut, more than a decade before she became the iconic Nancy in The Craft. It flopped at the box office but has since become a cult classic for anyone who loves their childhood films slightly unsettling.

And for the witches’ own side of the story, there’s Wicked (2024). Based on the hit Broadway musical, itself adapted from Gregory Maguire’s novel, it follows green-skinned outsider Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and bubbly, popular Glinda (Ariana Grande) as unlikely roommates at Shiz University, long before Dorothy drops in. It builds to the show-stopping ‘Defying Gravity’ and earned ten Oscar nominations, winning for both costume design and production design.

Wicked: For Good (2025) picks up where the first film’s cliffhanger left off and brings the story full circle, bridging the gap to The Wizard of Oz, with Dorothy and Toto arriving in Oz along the way. Watch the pair back to back for the ultimate witchy musical marathon.

Between Elphaba’s dramatic black gowns and Glinda’s pink confections, both films are pure witchy wardrobe inspiration. Team Elphaba all the way, obviously.

8) The Witches (1990)

Based on Roald Dahl’s 1983 book The Witches, this dark fantasy comedy follows a young boy whose grandmother is a retired witch hunter. At a seaside hotel, he stumbles on a secret gathering of witches plotting to rid England of every child.

Anjelica Huston’s Grand High Witch, and that unmasking scene, live rent-free in most of our childhood memories. A 2020 remake starring Anne Hathaway is also out there, but the original’s prosthetics are unbeatable.

9) Teen Witch (1989)

In Teen Witch, high school underdog Louise Miller (Robyn Lively) learns from a fortune teller that she comes from a line of witches and will inherit her powers on her 16th birthday. She uses them to become popular, get back at her bullies and win over her crush.

Of course, getting everything you wished for isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. With rap musical numbers and every ’80s high school trope going, this is the ultimate guilty pleasure.

10) Twitches (2005)

In Twitches, Tia and Tamera Mowry, already much-loved twins from Sister, Sister, star as Alex and Camryn, twin witches born in the magical realm of Coventry. As babies, they’re hidden away in the human world to protect them from the Darkness, and they grow up with different adoptive families, with no idea the other exists.

On their 21st birthday, they bump into each other by chance, and strange things start to happen. They soon discover they’re witches, and that their powers only reach full strength when they work together, which is just as well, because Coventry needs saving.

Based on the book series by H.B. Gilmour and Randi Reisfeld, this Disney Channel original is light, sweet and full of 2000s charm (the outfits alone!). It’s perfect for family viewing, and if you’re hooked, Twitches Too (2007) continues the story.

11) The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Who doesn’t love a horror film shown only by camcorder footage? In The Blair Witch Project, three student filmmakers head into the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, to make a documentary about a local witch legend. They’re never seen again. A year later, their footage is found, and that footage is the film.

Made on a tiny budget and marketed as if it were real, it helped launch the found-footage horror boom. Keep a cosy hoodie close by to hide behind.

12) Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Looking for something gentle? Kiki’s Delivery Service is a Studio Ghibli gem that follows Kiki, a 13-year-old witch who flies off on her broomstick for a traditional year of independence, settling in a seaside town with her sarcastic black cat, Jiji.

She starts a flying delivery service and learns to find her footing when her magic falters. With beautiful artwork and a soothing soundtrack, it’s the ultimate comfort watch.

13) Spirited Away (2001)

We’re finishing with Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki’s most famous film. Ten-year-old Chihiro wanders into a spirit world, where her parents are turned into pigs and she is put to work in a bathhouse ruled by the formidable witch Yubaba, who takes her name.

With help from the mysterious Haku, Chihiro must find a way to free her parents and get home. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and it’s a must for any Ghibli fan.

Movies like Practical Magic

Loved Practical Magic and already worked your way through our list? These films share its mix of sisterhood, small-town magic, family secrets and romance:

• Practical Magic 2 (2026): the obvious next step! Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as the Owens sisters in a sequel based on Alice Hoffman’s novel The Book of Magic.
• Chocolat (2000): Juliette Binoche arrives in a strait-laced French village and opens a chocolate shop whose treats seem to work a little magic on everyone who tastes them. Pure kitchen witch energy, with Johnny Depp as a charming river drifter.
• Like Water for Chocolate (1992): a Mexican romance in which a young woman forbidden to marry pours her emotions into her cooking, with magical effects on everyone who eats it.
• Encanto (2021): a Colombian family blessed with magical gifts and a house that’s practically a character in itself. If you loved the Owens house and its matriarchs, this is for you.
• Beautiful Creatures (2013): a Southern gothic tale of a teenage witch, a family curse and a forbidden romance, with Emma Thompson and Viola Davis on fine form.
• Bewitched (2005): more Nicole Kidman witchiness, this time as a real witch cast in a remake of the classic TV series. Critics weren’t kind, but it’s a fun, fluffy watch.

Prefer a series? Charmed (1998–2006) gives you three witch sisters and plenty of ’90s and 2000s style, while A Discovery of Witches (2018–2022) is perfect if you love the romance side of Practical Magic.

And if you want even more Owens family magic, Alice Hoffman’s novels are a gorgeous read for a cosy autumn evening.

Final Thoughts

Whether you’re casting a nostalgic spell with Hocus Pocus, getting lost in Ghibli’s gentle magic or braving the woods with The Blair Witch Project, these films are the perfect escape into mystery, mischief and the supernatural.

So light a candle, gather your coven and settle in for a witchy movie marathon. And if you’re looking to channel a little witchy energy of your own, explore our magical collection of clothing – perfect for movie nights, full moon rituals, or everyday enchantment.

Thanks for reading! Tell us your favourite witch movie over on Instagram or TikTok.