film

"Zippy yet cruel … a horror film for children that continues to terrify." Both are apt descriptions of Nicolas Roeg's startling 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1983 book, which attained confirmed cult classic status many years ago despite its ending being famously disavowed by the author for veering too far from that of the book. These three screenings are part of Filmoteca's Mia Zetterling season, celebrating the great Swedish film director, novelist and actress. Zetterling plays Helga Eveshim in The Witches but it's Angelica Huston who steals the show with her terrifying portrayal of The Grand High Witch.

A young boy named Luke (Jasen Fisher) stumbles upon a secret convention of witches led by the terrifying Grand High Witch while he is staying with his grandmother (Zetterling) at a seaside hotel in England. Luke is caught spying on them and is transformed into a mouse but, with his grandmother’s help, works to stop the witches' plan to do the same to all children. A supremely odd combination of horror and whimsy, further enlivened by grotesquely memorable creature effects by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.