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As a big fan of all things spooky and demented from a young age, of course Roald Dahl’s 1983 novel The Witches was one of my favourite reads growing up. Robert Zemeckis’ latest adaptation must not only live up to those high expectations, but it also has to follow Nicolas Roeg’s beloved 1990 classic adaptation that traumatised much of my generation as kids. I like to think that all horror nuts my age spent their early years of life having nightmares about Anjelica Huston literally peeling the skin off her face. It was certainly formative for me.
When our protagonist, aptly credited as “Hero Boy”, has a chilling encounter with his first witch, his grandma (Octavia Spencer) swiftly whisks him away to stay in a hotel, safe from the danger. Unfortunately for them, this has the opposite effect. The hotel has been booked by a large party of women who all wear gloves, and seem to hate children. And they have scar tissue around their mouths forming a sinister grin, much like Heath Ledger’s Joker. That’s right, they’re witches (not a spoiler—it’s in the title)! The Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway) hosts a summit to announce her master plan for world domination to get rid of horrible, stinky children once and for all by poisoning their sweets with a potion that turns children into mice.
The beginning of the film seemed to address the transatlantic shift, from England to Alabama, in an interesting manner through its music and character interaction. However, this is all quickly brushed aside in favour of the main fantastical story. Whilst this probably won’t be of much notice to the target audience, it seemed a little baffling for me. A significant part of what made this new adaptation unique from its predecessor (and the original text) is the new context, and how that affects and alters the characters’ experiences. It’s a shame this was left so undeveloped.
Thankfully, the witches themselves are distinct enough from their predecessors (not quite so gory), but just as full of evil ambition. They are scary, but in a different way to Huston’s coven, and mostly deliver their scares through the impossibility of their movement and the uncanny disturbance of their physical and vocal delivery. Hathaway is a thrilling antagonist, and I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I watched her embody the Grand High Witch in all her malignant eccentricity. She certainly steals the show, but Octavia Spencer is perfectly cast as the loving but firm Grandma, and Jahzir Bruno instils the protagonist with more than enough charm and amiability to degrade the cruelty of the witches and the snobby racism of the hotel manager, Mr Stringer (Stanley Tucci).
Whilst the film is enjoyable (and worth watching for the cast alone), there isn’t quite enough freshness or intrigue to propel toward the heights of the original. Part of what warms me to the original novel so fondly is its sensitive exploration of grief, and this could have been an appropriate entry point into this cinematic outing. This would be of particular resonance to Grandma and her own tragic upbringing in the flashback scenes of the screenplay, which is co-written by Zemeckis, Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro. Nevertheless, I had fun and my nerves were tickled by Hathaway’s performance and Zemeckis’ unsettling imagery. That’s probably all most people want from a film of The Witches anyway.
The Witches is available to rent on PVOD from October 26.
Photo credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures. ANNE HATHAWAY as Grand High Witch in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure “THE WITCHES,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
