Movies Similar to Witchcraft Through the Ages

The Color Purple(1985)

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror(2021)

An exploration of the cinematic history of the folk horror, from its beginnings in the UK in the late sixties; through its proliferation on British television in the seventies and its many manifestations, culturally specific, in other countries; to its resurgence in the last decade.

Köln 75(2025)

Behind one of the best-selling jazz records of all time, Keith Jarrett’s 1975 Köln Concert, how it almost didn’t happen, and how one formidable German teenager, Vera Brandes, breaks every boundary to set the conditions for the creation of a masterpiece. Vera, still in high school when she started producing and promoting music concerts in Cologne, puts everything on the line to put on this show. But Vera believes in the power of music, and she’s never seen anyone play like Keith Jarrett before.

Toronto Jazz(1963)

Toronto is regarded as the third largest jazz centre in North America. This film features a cross-section of jazz bands of that city: the Lenny Breau Trio, the Don Thompson Quintet and the Alf Jones Quartet. Their styles show creative self-expression, hard work, and improvisation.

Let's Get Lost(1988)

Documentary about jazz great Chet Baker that intercuts footage from the 1950s, when he was part of West Coast Cool, and from his last years. We see the young Baker, he of the beautiful face, in California and in Italy, where he appeared in at least one movie and at least one jail cell (for drug possession). And, we see the aged Baker, detached, indifferent, his face a ruin. Includes interviews with his children and ex-wife, women companions, and musicians.

Stranger in Our House(1979)

A country family of five take in charming cousin Julie, whose parents recently died in a car crash, though teenaged daughter Rachel grows suspect that she has an alternative agenda; one that possibly includes witchcraft.

The House That Dripped Blood(1971)

A Scotland Yard investigator looks into four mysterious cases involving an unoccupied house.

Sau Saal Baad(1989)

A warlock whose lover has been turned to stone by a yogi tries to restore her back to life using the blood of one of her descendants.

The Circle(2015)

An otherworldly evil is slipping into a small town in Sweden. Six unrelated girls have been chosen to fight this evil. Together they must overcome their differences in order to save themselves and the world.

Cautio Criminalis(1974)

Bill Evans Time Remembered(2015)

A biographical film featuring the music and times of Bill Evans with interviews from Tony Bennett, Jack Dejohnette, Billy Taylor, Paul Motian, Jon Hendricks, Orin Keepnews, Bobby Brookmeyer, Pat Evans and more, including family and friends who knew Bill Evans well.

I Curse This Land(2024)

In a sleepy coastal village a curse lies waiting. Legend has it one night centuries ago when a smuggler was delivering his illicit wares, the excise men pounced. One of the villagers had betrayed him. The smuggler was caught and quickly hanged as an example but, his widow was more than she seemed, the practitioner of an ancient religion of magic and sorcery. The villagers formed a mob to hunt her down as a witch, they brutalised her, tarred and feathered her, but before they could kill her she put one last curse upon the land; that nothing should flourish, no life or love, before taking her own life and spilling her blood upon the land.

Incantation(2021)

As her life spirals out of control, a rebellious undergrad begins practicing a forbidden witchcraft to help her grades; but when she unknowingly unleashes a deadly curse that threatens her father's life, she will be forced to pass her biggest test yet.

House of Spoils(2024)

An ambitious chef opens a restaurant on a remote estate where she battles kitchen chaos, crushing self doubts… and a haunting presence who threatens to sabotage her at every turn.

Trick of the Witch(2010)

Trick of the Witch is about a group of fashion models fighting a witchcraft curse while stranded at a secluded mansion.

Salem Witch Trials(2002)

Salem, Massachusetts. A small town—with no clear governing body—became embroiled in a scandal that forever stands as one of the darkest chapters in American history. For those accused of witchcraft by their neighbors and friends, there was little chance of clearing their names; the mass paranoia that ravaged through the community took the lives of 19 innocent men and women.

Stop for Bud(1963)

Stop for Bud is Jørgen Leth's first film and the first in his long collaboration with Ole John. […] they wanted to "blow up cinematic conventions and invent cinematic language from scratch". The jazz pianist Bud Powell moves around Copenhagen -- through King's Garden, along the quay at Kalkbrænderihavnen, across a waste dump. […] Bud is alone, accompanied only by his music. […] Image and sound are two different things -- that's Leth's and John's principle. Dexter Gordon, the narrator, tells stories about Powell's famous left hand. In an obituary for Powell, dated 3 August 1966, Leth wrote: "He quite willingly, or better still, unresistingly, mechanically, let himself be directed. The film attempts to depict his strange duality about his surroundings. His touch on the keys was like he was burning his fingers -- that's what it looked like, and that's how it sounded. But outside his playing, and often right in the middle of it, too, he was simply gone, not there."

Cry of the Banshee(1970)

In seventeenth century England Lord Whitman wages unending war on what he sees as the ever-present scourge of witchcraft, and many local villagers have suffered at his hands. But one victim uses her occult powers to curse his family, enlisting unknowing help from one of the household.

Crux(2023)

During the break of her theater play, Luna gets confronted with the consequences of her own ambitions

Night of the Demon(1957)

American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a cult lead by Dr. Julian Karswell. Though a skeptic, Holden is suspicious of the devil-worshiping Karswell. Following a trail of mysterious manuscripts, Holden enters a world that makes him question his faith in science.