Directed by Nicholas Hytner • 1996 • United States
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Joan Allen
Adapted by Arthur Miller from his own acclaimed play, this searing drama of persecution and betrayal—often read as an allegory for the McCarthy trials of the 1950s, but possessed of an evergreen resonance—makes the leap from stage to screen with vivid intensity thanks to a powerhouse cast. In seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts, a group of young women are accused of practicing witchcraft after an occult rendezvous in the woods. Led by Abigail Williams (Winona Ryder)—who is consumed by hatred for the wife (Joan Allen) of her ex-lover (Daniel Day-Lewis)—the accused turn their fear and rage outward as hysteria sweeps through the town.
Up Next in Witches
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The Love Witch
Directed by Anna Biller • 2016 • United States
Starring Samantha Robinson, Gian Keys, Laura WaddellElaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However, her sp...
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The Witches
Directed by Mauro Bolognini, Vittorio De Sica, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi, and Luchino Visconti • 1967 • Italy, France
Starring Silvana Mangano, Annie Girardot, Massimo GirottiFive of Italy’s greatest directors contributed segments—each starring the divine Silvana Mangano—to this offbeat...
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Suspiria
Directed by Dario Argento • 1977 • Italy
Starring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, Flavio BucciOne of cinema’s most potent hallucinogens, Dario Argento’s witchy freak-out is a sustained spectacle of outrageously stylized violence and eye-popping art direction. When doe-eyed American ballerina S...
