The Witches

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The Witches

PG

1990

1h 31m

Kids & Family

Fantasy

Adventure

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

50 Reviews

70%

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50,000+ Ratings

While staying at a hotel in England with his grandmother, Helga (Mai Zetterling), young Luke (Jasen Fisher) inadvertently spies on a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston) reveals a plan to turn all children into mice through a magical formula. When they find that Luke has overheard, the witches test the formula on him. Now, with the help of Helga and the hotel manager, Mr. Stringer (Rowan Atkinson), Luke the mouse must fight back against the witches.

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Critics Consensus

With a deliciously wicked performance from Angelica Huston and imaginative puppetry by Jim Henson's creature shop, Nicolas Roeg's dark and witty movie captures the spirit of Roald Dahl's writing like few other adaptations.

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Michael Upchurch

Seattle Times

11/25/2013

4/4

It's not a film for small children. But for precocious first-graders with a warped sense of humor and an appetite for chills, thrills and spills, nothing could be better.

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Michael Wilmington

Los Angeles Times

11/25/2013

Real darkness seethes beneath the "Once upon a time" surface, mostly due to Henson's seemingly curious selection of the brilliant and audacious Roeg to direct.

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Ada Calhoun

Austin Chronicle

11/25/2013

Based on a Roald Dahl book, Nicholas Roeg's The Witches is a film surprisingly faithful to the creepiness of the original.

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Rachel Wagner

Rachel's Reviews (YouTube)

06/09/2025

One of the scariest films made for kids ever but a lot of fun

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Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Willamette Week

01/22/2025

The Witches (1990) is another level of beautifully demented cinema—pitched at children in theoretical genre terms but actually a fairy tale lensed so grotesquely that it would make Guillermo del Toro squirm.

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Farah Cheded

A Good Movie To Watch

10/28/2023

Finds a clever balance between being nightmare-inducing and deliciously fun, a tonal blend that harks back to the twisted appeal of traditional fairy tales.

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Kaleb R

@Kaleb361 Feb 1

Anjelica Huston Did A AMAZING JOB AT THIS ROLE SHE WAS BORN TO PLAY IT It Was A Little Scary But For Young Children This would be nightmares but I loved in when I was in 3rd grade I watched in 1990 October I was 10 It WAS TERRIFYING but when I came back to it it was amazing and Mai Zetterling and Jasen fisher did a fantastic job too

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Oct 30

Success in 1 hour and 33 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dubbed and subtitled in worldwide studios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Marie T

@RT04799436 Oct 19

Angelica Huston: Legend. This movie's haunted me since I saw it as a kid

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thiago s

@Thiagostone Aug 20

Filme fraco, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas de terror são fracas, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom

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Alexandro L

@RT37291642 Jul 7

This movie is awesome! The witches are tremendously ugly, don't watch it with small kids!

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David G

@RT95929972 06/15/2025

The film is glorious! A nearly pitch perfect adaptation of the classic novel. It fires on all cylinders when it comes to creepiness of adult society. The scary elements only enhance the experience. All hail the queen Angelica Huston ,a classic performance. Highly recommend this grim fairytale.

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Nicolas Roeg

Director

Anjelica Huston

Miss Eva Ernst

Mai Zetterling

Helga

Jasen Fisher

Luke

Rowan Atkinson

Mr. Stringer

Bill Paterson

Mr. Jenkins

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Synopsis

While staying at a hotel in England with his grandmother, Helga (Mai Zetterling), young Luke (Jasen Fisher) inadvertently spies on a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch (Anjelica Huston) reveals a plan to turn all children into mice through a magical formula. When they find that Luke has overheard, the witches test the formula on him. Now, with the help of Helga and the hotel manager, Mr. Stringer (Rowan Atkinson), Luke the mouse must fight back against the witches.

Director: Nicolas Roeg
Producer: Mark Shivas
Screenwriter: Allan Scott, Roald Dahl
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co: Jim Henson Productions, Lorimar Film Entertainment
Rating: PG
Genre: Kids & Family, Fantasy, Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 16, 1990, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 25, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $8.7M
Runtime: 1h 31m
Sound Mix: Dolby, Surround