The Love Witch

The Love Witch

The Love Witch (2016)

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In Obsession (2026), a hopeless young man casts a love spell on a woman and it threatens to destroy them both. 10 years ago, one filmmaker told the story from the other side. And she built every inch of it herself.

THE LOVE WITCH (2016) is about Elaine, a modern witch who uses spells to make men love her. Her magic works too well. The men keep dying, and her hunger to be adored drives her toward madness.

Anna Biller wrote it, directed it, produced it, edited it, and scored it. She designed the sets, painted the props, and sewed the gowns by hand.

She shot it on 35mm so it would glow like a Technicolor melodrama. It cost a quarter of a million dollars and looks like a studio spent ten times that.

The result is a film that feels like a classic 60s period piece, capturing the same mesmerizing, eerie atmosphere that defined Hammer's iconic witch and vampire tales, but with the narrative power firmly resting in the hands of the femme fatale.

About the Film

She loved men... to death

Directed By
Anna Biller
Runtime
121 minutes
Released
November 11, 2016
Certification
NR
Country
United States of America
Starring
Samantha Robinson, Gian Keys, Laura Waddell, Jeffrey Vincent Parise, Jared Sanford
More Credits
Genres
Horror, Comedy, Romance
Language
English
Origin
US
Studios
Anna Biller Productions
Written By
Anna Biller
Produced By
Anna Biller, Jared Sanford
Cinematography
M. David Mullen
Music
Anna Biller
Also Starring
Robert Seeley, Jennifer Ingrum, Randy Evans, Clive Ashborn, Lily Holleman
Box Office
$228,894

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  1. Love Witch does look phenomenal, down to the last detail. I just didn’t find the story that compelling. Worth a look for the visual aspect though, especially for anyone who grew up watching old Hammer or AIP horror flicks.

    1. John McCallum Swain Yah, considering the low budget the set design is amazing. I wish they would have spent as much attention to pacing and dialect lessons. Every time the lead actor speaks the illusion of being from the 60s or early 70s is completely broken. Still…absolute respect for the filmmakers and their vision!

    3. John McCallum Swain Anna Biller bit off more than she could chew. She did a near perfect job of everything but the story and dialogue. Wish she’d collaborated on those aspects. I’ve got nearly 1000 movies from the era she’s trying to recreate. No need for me to revisit.

      2. Willow Carpenito Yet story and script are aspects of preproduction. Crew doesn’t play into this. She even composed the music. Movies are collaborative yet for Anna it was an ego project. No wonder the crew was difficult, she probably micromanaged everyone to death.

  4. “eerie atmosphere that defined Hammer’s iconic witch and vampire tales, but with the narrative power firmly resting in the hands of the femme fatale.”

    Hammer did that at times, too. Ingrid Pitt in the role, usually.

      1. Lilith Sigil not “THE late John Waters.” “Late John Waters.” Considering he hasn’t made a movie in a while, any movie from the 1990s or 2000s would probably count as his late period.

  8. all the main characters were living in the 70s with the cars and clothes and interior decor, but in the outside shots you could see cars from the 2000s and 2010s driving around town, so the effect was that the main characters were in a kind of aesthetic time warp bubble

    6. Nathan Segerlind I wonder if it also gets to do with how the love witch romanticizes everything in that 1960s/19670s era. That it’s from her perspective and everything isn’t what it seems

  15. Anna Biller is an absolute lunatic who believes the Satanic Panic was real and whose vision of femininity is based entirely on gender essentialism.

    She’s gross and so is her film.

  18. Saw it a few years ago, I was knocked out by what a wonderful forgery (in a good way) of an early 70s movie it was. Not just the cinematography, but the dialogue and acting as well, it kind of had that ABC Movie of the Week vibe.

  26. The Love Witch needed a good editor. It could have been fun at 80 minutes but at two hours it seriously outstayed its welcome. As to the comparison to Obsession, the fact that they are about love spells is about the only thing they have in common. The Love Witch is a campy pastiche of 60s movies, Obsession is a genuinely disturbing horror film.

    1. Peter Schmidt I thought so, too. Then I rewatched it a day or two later, and saw it as a traumatized woman’s revenge story which might look different in her mind than to the world around her. There’s a lot of pain hiding behind the obvious campiness.
      The Love Witch. That’s the one I’m talking about, to avoid confusion 🙂

  30. Yeah this flick kinda rules. I remember thinking I had to really suspend disbelief that this lady had to use any magic to make men fall for her though. Before that, there was nothing about her that was a deal breaker. And the difference between The Love Witch and Bear (from Obsession) though, is Bear has some obvious emotional honesty problems and when he gets his wish, he doesn’t even really believe in it or really know what he’s doing so he’s more hapless in a way. The Love Witch is definitely doing her part with intention, just with unintended consequences.

  35. A favorite ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ episode had Xander dumped on Valentines Day. He gets a classmate who practices witchcraft to cast a love spell on his ex so he can dump her and show how it feels – but it’s explained a love spell has to be pure in intent, and instead every woman in town is literally crazy for him. As he said “Which may sound swell on paper, but…”

    2. Vince Macek if only love spells cast with pure intend work no love spell ever would, because nobody with pure intend would ever force another person to feel love. It’s a contradiction in itself.

      3. Hildegard Knopf I could see a love spell where you willingly sacrifice your current self to become someone your love could equally love in return, it doesn’t rob the will of the other person and any cost is born by the person consenting to it.

  43. I had the good fortune of seeing the projected 35mm print in Toronto years ago (Royal Cinema) and it really did glow. Anna Biller gave a Q&A – by Skype – after the screening and it was a Love-In for the audience and filmmaker. Hat’s off to Biller and Robinson for the vision and execution. If you don’t love the genre then The Love Witch might not be your jam. The audience I watched it with had big fun start to finish.🌹

    1. Cam MacLennan I also attended a Zoom Q&A with her after a screening of the film at my local public library. There was a series called Feminist Fright Fest in October, which was pretty fantastic.

  46. “Love Witch” is a marvelous film experience. Viewed it with an audience at a film festival here and wasn’t sure at first, but that she created this gorgeous crazy film from vintage clothes shopping and handmade props and the wild story, well. You agree to take the ride and watch what happens.

  71. Not sure if it’s the first, but the first thing that came to mind when I heard of Obsession was the episode of Tales From The Crypt “Loved To Death.” It pretty much is Obsession, but came out in 1991.

      2. Paul De Georgio she’s got interviews on YouTube about it but I recall her talking about using studio lighting, hard key lighting etc. There’s also an interview on YouTube from the cinematographer

  80. There’s a reason this movie looks so incredible (well, a few reasons, but) The cinematographer is the famous David Mullen. He’s done a lot of incredible work, including Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

  99. I’m still haunted by the first boyfriend to go. Without overdoing the role, that character seems kind and gentle with a caring vibe who was ready to explore an interesting relationship with an admittedly scarily irresistible woman.

    Then, in bed the following morning, he’s reduced to an utter wretch as a grotesque puddle of pouring tears and naked fear in desperate, drowning love for her until he simply fades away.

    Ultimately, the film is more on the camp side of Hammer style horror with some humor. That one scene hits hard though and gave the story immediate gravity by undermining the usual vulnerable women dying horribly for a man’s complete degradation and psychic devastation instead.

    It bears repeating that Biller forged that beautiful film with all the “blood, sweat, and tears” you’d imagine such a film would cost one filmmaker and a smaller crew.

    Looks like The Face of Horror is upcoming soon hopefully! Cinematography by M. David Mullen from Love Witch and a cast that looks very nice. Based on a Japanese ghost story (aren’t they all?) ;-). Can’t wait! https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14102642/

  106. I was obsessed with Bewitched(and many other 60s shows on Nick at night/tv land) as a child and also a horror nerd. The Love Witch checked every box for me and I really wish she made more movies with that true vintage feel. It’s such an experience to watch and insane that it wasn’t shot in the. 60s! This and House of the Devil are two my top favorite vintage modern horror films. They are *chefs kiss*

  121. This is one I still absolutely adored even though the story didn’t do much for me. You could tell a lot of love was put into the final product and sometimes that goes a long way. It looked amazing. Loved the cinematography and the sets/costumes/everything. Looks like it came straight out of the late 60s/early 70s. Not one I’d rewatch a lot but still worth checking out if you’re into the technical aspects of filmmaking.

  124. I kept seeing this on I think Shudder and I kept asking “why does this 60’s movie say it was made in 2016” like I thought it was a flaw and so I finally googled it and was like “damn it was made in 2016” 😂

    1. Elisha McBride it’s been a while since I’ve watched The Love Witch, so I hope what I’m about to say isn’t a fabricated memory, but iirc it is also *set in* 2016, it’s just that the main character Elaine really loves the aesthetic of the mid-60’s

      1. Annie Anaya this is my favorite thing about the movie, it’s such a flashback to the cheesy movies of the 60s that had all kinds of things that didn’t make sense but 🤷‍♀️ you just go with it for entertainment.

  150. This was a blast, especially especially if you’re a fan of the era movies it’s flipping the script on. It is a bit drawn out, but we’ll worth tracking down. And it is gorgeous to look at.

    1. Lauryn Eldridge I felt the exact same way. It was gorgeous to look at, but a painful watch nonetheless. I’d rather just rewatch a bunch of the old Jess Franco or Radley Metzger movies instead. Also pretty lite on plot but more enjoyable by a mile.

  180. The Love Witch is an amazing throwback to 60s cinema.
    The way they use the cameras, the costuming, the props and the absolutely stunning and gorgeous use of colour is immaculate.
    Even the way the characters act feels like this is right out of another decade!

  191. I love this movie so much. You either get it or you don’t. I really relate to Elaine too. not in the sexy Love Witch aspect but especially in lines like ..” my husband couldn’t wait to get rid of me!” things like that. This movie just speaks to me. I will forever love Anna Biller for creating this work of art.

  192. Obsession su€ked. We just finished it and my wife and I could barely get through it. At the end, when she is crying my wife said “I feel like I should be crying for watching that”. Lmfao😂 I love my wife. This movie was slow, confusing in the beginning because we were both like “So …does she like him or not?” because it was so stupid (turns out the director shot it both ways and used footage from both to make it ambiguous how she felt which was the wrong move), the dialog throughout rest of the movie was horrid, the effects were awful because the dead cat looked so bad and so did the car scene, the movie wasn’t scary, it was predictable, him crying about how she can’t cook the cat but then goes right back into it all was just beyond stupid, the audio would be taken over by the music …I can’t even post how many ways it stunk. It’s not an original idea but a new interesting spin on The Monkey’s Paw can always be done. This was not that. There have been many movies and TV episodes that have done it so much better. There was an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer that was basically this but 100 times better. I will actually check out The Love Witch because it looks beautifully shot. I love old movies so much better than anything that has come out in the last 25 years. Old movies were just so much better and since this is trying to pay tribute to those I am hoping this will be enjoyable. Thank you for the info.

  202. The Love Witch is such a good movie and this really misses the point of how the boy in Obsession is a piece of shit, but the girl from Love Witch is just so right.

    Nikki is a good person and doesn’t deserve what happens to get in Obsession.

    Every man in the Love Witch is a self important loser who got what he had coming to him.

  213. My favorite detail is that she HAND HOOKED THE PENTACLE RUG. She wanted to buy one but couldn’t find what she wanted, so she just made it. I love the crossover between filmmakers and artists who just know all sorts of types of crafts. Comes from the same creative mind space as The Muppets, Star Wars, and others that focused on practical effects and experimental filmmaking. The ‘no one told me I couldn’t, so I decided to try’ way of thinking.

    1. Hayden Phillips I was coming to say the same exact thing. That’s one of the things that I find the most impressive as well. It took her so long to get all the sets and costuming done since she handled everything, truly a labor of love.

  216. Reminds me of another short film about a girl who finds a magic pocket mirror. Whoever sees her reflection in the mirror will fall desperately in love with her. She uses it on her sister’s boyfriend, who becomes obsessed with her. Eventually she tells him to step into a trash compactor and she presses the button and throws the mirror, just for someone else to pick it up. I can’t remember the name of the movie but it stuck with me forever.

  217. Loved “The love witch” absolutely gorgeous film with an interesting story and very alluring yet dangerous main character. And obsession is another film that I think was done really well. Great camera work and a main character who slowly becomes worse and worse.

    1. Christian Flores I felt the same. It could have been so great but eh. I may watch it again to see what I notice now but that’s it. I’m an avid horror and witchy or vampire movie fan and this one didn’t do it for me, although I appreciate what they were doing and it’s aesthetically impressive.

  248. I think she was the one that killed them in the love witch . She was definitely a villain but also it was a satire about feminism I think. So funny because the movie looks like it’s from the 1960s and then they pulled out a smartphone LOL

  251. I was just telling my sisters about this film who haven’t seen it (and did see obsession). Such a great low(er) budget film. There was no skipping details in the wardrobe/sets/stylization. Beautifully shot! There’s a great Twilight Zone episode about a love potion mis-hap too! “The Chaser”

  283. I hated the love witch 🤷‍♀️ beautifully packaged nothing sandwich. I watch a lot of films from the era it mimics, so it’s not that I didn’t get the point. It was just so flavorless aside from the aesthetics. Obsession is nothing like this film. We can list a million films with the same premise to be fair. I guess we’re just using obsession because it’s a buzz word right now.

  320. After I saw OBSESSION in theaters I knew it would be a perfect double feature with this movie. Saw Love Witch for the first time on Joe Bob Briggs Valentines Day special for The Last DRIVE-IN.

  327. I definitely recognize the talent that went into making it – it’s beautiful to look at – but the gender essentialism and misrepresentation of pagan beliefs & practices are a big ol’ no thanks.

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