The Witches

Nicolas Roeg | UK | 1990 | 91 mins

A childrens' tale ideal for adults, Roald Dahl's The Witches is brought to screen by the unlikely pairing of director Nic Roeg - probably best known for Performance, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell To Earth - and the Muppetsters from the Jim Henson Company, who produced the film and provided many of the effects. It is an uplifting, funny film about making the most of what life gives you and is probably the happiest film you'll ever watch about parental death and the abduction and murder of children.

Whilst Luke and his American parents are staying with his Norwegian grandmother (Mai Zetterling), she warns him of the dangers of witches: seemingly charming ladies intent only on the destruction of children, and tells of her own experiences of them. After a terrible accident kills both of Luke's parents, they move to England to stay in Rowan Atkinson's grand hotel, which also happens to be host to a witches' convention, led by The Grand High Witch, played with camp panache by Anjelica Huston. Discovering this, it is up to the boy and his grandmother to stop them killing every child in England.

The film sticks very accurately to the book, only deviating during the last minute or two, to turn a philosophically optimistic ending into a genuinely happy one. This does not distract from a beautifully crafted, darkly comic tale writ large, ideal for the little kid in you.

Review by Scott M Keir
Taken from EUFS programme spring 2000