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This is a "watch at home, discuss in-person" event, the second in a two-part series tracing how the figure of the witch has haunted, shaped, and reflected women's place in society, on screen and in the cultural imagination.

In this discussion, we shift focus from persecution to power, exploring what happens when the witch takes control of the narrative—sometimes with vengeance, sometimes with charm, and sometimes with subversive intent. In Bell, Book and Candle, magic lives behind mid-century sophistication, as a modern witch quietly steers the course of love, desire, and independence. Black Sunday casts the witch as Gothic avenger, returning from the grave to reclaim the agency she was denied. And The Love Witch both revels in and critiques the fantasy of female power, using glamour, seduction, and ritual to expose the myths men project and the stories women inherit. Together, these films chart an evolution—from mythic fear to radical ownership—where the witch doesn't burn. She casts the spell.

We will meet to discuss our thoughts on Monday, October 27, at Edgewater Public Market. We'll be seated outside at one of the picnic tables. Dress for the weather; it's likely to be cold. (If it's too cold we'll meet inside at Barquentine Brewing Company.) Please try to watch all three before attending, but if you need to skip Black Sunday (it's technically a horror movie, but not too intense imo) that's OK.

Here is the list of films with instructions on how to find them.

BELL, BOOK AND CANDLE (1958, Richard Quine, USA)
Spells in Bell, Book and Candle are cast in chic Manhattan apartments, where witches walk among mortals and magic blends seamlessly with mid-century style. Gillian Holroyd is confident, alluring, and quietly powerful—a modern witch whose charms unsettle the world around her. Beneath the film's romantic surface lies a deeper current about autonomy, identity, and what women are asked to suppress in exchange for connection. As enchantment gives way to emotion, the film invites us to consider how power—especially feminine power—is softened, hidden, or surrendered to fit within the bounds of love and normalcy.

BLACK SUNDAY (1960, Mario Bava, Italy)
In Black Sunday, power doesn't lurk on the margins—it bursts from the grave, vengeful and unrepentant. Mario Bava's Gothic masterpiece opens with a brutal execution and never loosens its grip, as a condemned witch returns centuries later to possess, seduce, and destroy. Barbara Steele's dual performance—ethereal victim and wrathful sorceress—embodies the fear and fascination that surrounds feminine power when it refuses to die quietly. Cloaked in shadow and baroque imagery, the film revels in supernatural horror, but its true terror lies in the idea that the witch is not only real—she's right to be angry. Black Sunday doesn't ask whether power corrupts; it asks what happens when it's taken back.

THE LOVE WITCH (2016, Anna Biller, USA)
In The Love Witch, magic is a mirror—gleaming, seductive, and cracked at the edges. Elaine brews potions, casts spells, and decorates her Victorian apartment like a Technicolor altar to desire, but beneath the surface lies a deeper longing: to be loved completely, even if it kills. Anna Biller's meticulously stylized film channels the look and feel of 1960s sexploitation cinema while subverting it at every turn. Elaine is both empowered and trapped by the fantasy she performs, wielding her magic to control men while questioning the stories that taught her to. Campy, eerie, and razor-sharp, The Love Witch invites us to examine the cost of power built on illusion—and whether the archetype of the witch frees women, or simply reshapes the cage.

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