Love spells never work the way you think they will (The Love Witch, 2016)

Just finished watching The Love Witch, a 2016 film directed Anna Biller. Biller is a director known for her feminist perspective in her films with The Love Witch being no exception.

The film follows Elaine, played beautifully by Samantha Robinson, a beautiful young witch, who is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, then picks up men and seduces them. However, her spells work too well, and she ends up with a string of hapless victims. When she at last meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved drives her to the brink of insanity and murder.

The cinematography by M. David Mullen and costume design were constructed to imitate a 60s camp film feel with psychedelic lighting and artwork that foreshadowed our main protagonist/antagonist love affairs. Everything was simply beautiful and not to mention the fact it offers a striking observation of women in a society that would rather "burn the witch" instead of destroying the patriarchal society that created Elaine's character arch.

The Love Witch (2016) ‧ Horror/Comedy Horror