The Love Witch ***½ (2016, Samantha Robinson, Laura Waddell, Gian Keys, Robert Seeley, Jeffrey Vincent Parise) – Movie Review

The  visually stylish 2016 horror comedy The Love Witch is funny throughout its epic two hours, and maybe just a little bit creepy and scary too, certainly plenty weird. It is perhaps a tiny bit too long, but it is pleasurably kitsch, camp and funny, keeping its main joke going nicely in a sustained spoof of Seventies Technicolor horror movies. They obviously had a ball making it and we have a good time too!

Samantha Robinson stars as Elaine, a modern-day witch who uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her. Robinson is great! And she needs a Best Makeup Oscar!

Gian Keys plays Griff the local lawman on Elaine’s case, on whom she soon tries to put a spell on, of course, and Robert Seeley and Jeffrey Vincent Parise are Richard and Wayne, other men in danger from Elaine’s witchy attentions. All three actors are well cast and hit the spot with campy turns.

The film is a bit sexy and a bit rude, but mostly just a bit of fun. Anna Biller is the person to praise (or blame if you don’t like it), in a clear labour of as writer, director, editor, composer and designer, as well as hand maker of much of the set decorations and costumes. It is a brio lot of work. Cinematographer David Mullen gets the visual style just right.

Biller says Elaine’s take on sexual politics is not satirical but is intended to convey her own belief that men are emotionally weak and shallow, and that only women are truly capable of deep love. She also denies her film is a homage to Seventies horror cinema or a satire. I’ve no idea what to make of this, except to think that Biller is being playful and provocative.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Movie Review

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