Category Archives: Witchcraft

Heather Greene Guest Essay: The Conjuring and Horror Depictions of “Evil Witches”

July 24th, 2013 | Posted in demonic, demonology, horror, paranormal, Wicca, Witchcraft

The Conjuring has been the focus of a lot of discussion recently from a variety of perspectives: It surprisingly broke box office records in its debut weekend, beating out much bigger budget movies; Salon.com claimed it was a “right-wing, woman-hating film; two individuals responsible for producing the film stated that they hoped the film, with […]

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Call for Abstracts: A “Supernatural” History of Central Europe, 1870-Present

April 26th, 2012 | Posted in call for papers, folklore, monsters, paranormal, Witchcraft

Call for Abstracts: “A ‘Supernatural’ History of Central Europe, 1870-present” Editors: Eric Kurlander (Stetson U.) and Monica Black (U. of Tenn., Knoxville) Deadline: August 1, 2012 Despite the ostensible “disenchantment of the world” proclaimed by Max Weber at the beginning of the twentieth century, Central Europe has a rich modern history of occultism, folklore, paganism, […]

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Black Death Podcast: Peg Aloi, Medieval Horror, and Religious Dialogue

June 13th, 2011 | Posted in Christianity, horror, occult, Paganism, podcast, Wicca, Witchcraft

  TheoFantastique Podcast 2.2 for 2011 is now available. In this edition my special guest is Peg Aloi, a religion scholar and film critic and who maintains her own blog at The Witching Hour, who engages me about the film Black Death directed by Christopher Smith. In this interview and dialogue, Peg and I discuss […]

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Black Death: Promising Medieval Horror

January 12th, 2011 | Posted in horror, Wicca, Witchcraft

Recently I interviewed Peg Aloi who shared her thoughts on how the film Season of the Witch might depict the witch and how this characterization might relate to witches and Wiccans in the real world. Since our discussion this film has debuted in theaters, and many reviews have not been positive. By contrast, there has […]

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Peg Aloi: Season of the Witch (2011)

December 19th, 2010 | Posted in Wicca, Witchcraft

I recently came across a trailer for the film Season of the Witch set for release in the U.S. on January 7. Following is a brief synopsis, with a fuller description available on the film’s website: Oscar winner Nicolas Cage (National Treasure, Ghost Rider) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Hellboy II, Sons of Anarchy) star in […]

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Karin Beeler: Seers, Witches and Psychics on Screen

October 19th, 2009 | Posted in feminism, postfeminism, psychic, Wicca, Witchcraft

Another book that touches on the psychic realm caught my eye when thumbing through the catalog by McFarland. It is Seers, Witches and Psychics on Screen by Karin Beeler (McFarland, 2008). Beeler is an associate professor in the English department and Acting Director for the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology at the University of […]

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Carrol L. Fry – Cinema of the Occult: New Age, Satanism, Wicca, and Spiritualism in Film

May 4th, 2009 | Posted in demonic, demonology, devil in film, ghost, Harry Potter, horror, occult, Othering, Satan, Satanism, Western esotericism, Wicca, Witchcraft

Various aspects of the occult, or as it is more commonly referred to today in academic circles, Western esotericism, have long been facets that have informed storytelling and fear in horror films. A recent book by Carrol Fry touches on this topic, titled Cinema of the Occult: New Age, Satanism, Wicca and Spiritualism in Film (Rosemont […]

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Pop Culture Legacy of Malleus Maleficarum

April 7th, 2008 | Posted in Malleus Maleficarum, Satanism, Witchcraft

The April issue of Rue Morgue magazine caught my eye at the newsstand recently with an article titled “The Witch Hunter’s Bible,” an article that explored the infamous Malleus Maleficarum. For those unfamiliar with this document, it comes from the medieval period (perhaps the 15th century) as a Christian manual that purports to provide the […]

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Peg Aloi: Cinema and the Occult Revival

December 3rd, 2007 | Posted in cinema, counter-culture, occult, occulture, Paganism, Wicca, Witchcraft

This post brings together a number of areas of interest for me, including the increasing interest in fantasy with the counterculture of the 1960s, the connection between fantasy and Neo-Paganism, and the expression of elements related to Paganism and esotericism in film. We will explore issues related to these facets courtesy of an interview with […]

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Metaphysical Media and a Typology of Media Portraits of the Witch

October 9th, 2007 | Posted in horror, occult, Western esotericism, Wicca, Witchcraft

As readers may recall, I have been interested in the intersection between various expressions of so-called alternative spiritualities, such as Western esotericism, Neo-Paganism, and Wicca, with popular culture and the media. Of particular interest is how film and television has depicted Paganism, and more specifically, the figure of the Witch. Helen Berger was very helpful […]

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