The Witch Movie Project: Teen Witch & The Craft

Two teenage witch movies, seven years apart, reveal far more in common than their surface differences suggest. This week, Blane and Courtney break down the 1989 camp classic Teen Witch alongside the 1996 dark-edged The Craft, uncovering unexpected parallels in how both films center young women discovering power at the exact moment they feel most powerless.

Teen Witch opens with pure 80s energy, MTV aesthetics, that unforgettable "High School Blues" rap, and a girl who finds a magical necklace that lets her reshape herself. But beneath the glitter and glamour, Louise faces the same core question as every teen witch: does this power feel real if it's not actually me?

The Craft takes that same premise into darker territory. Four high school outsiders invoke real Wiccan practices, calling the corners, chanting in perfect love and perfect trust, to reclaim agency in a world that treats them as disposable. Courtney breaks down the actual symbolism: the pentacle, the rule of three, braid magic as genuine spell work. She also reveals what happened on set when they filmed the invocation scenes, strange occurrences the director couldn't explain.

Both films grapple with the same truth: witchcraft, in these stories, isn't about evil. It's about girls finding a language for power when the world offers them none.

Plus: an exclusive interview with Robin Lively, who played Louise in Teen Witch.

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The Witch Movie Project, Episode 2: Suspiria (1977 & 2018)

Dario Argento's 1977 Suspiria and Luca Guadagnino's 2018 reimagining are not remakes, they are two distinct visions of the same dark premise: a dance academy concealing a coven of witches who harvest human sacrifice to sustain their power. This episode unpacks both films side by side, tracing how a single story transforms across decades of filmmaking.

The 1977 original uses technicolor distortion, the Goblins' unsettling score, and giallo-style cinematography to disorient viewers into Susie Banyan's confusion. Every frame feels like a stage set, every shadow deliberate. The newer film adds layers, political history woven through Berlin's past, the revelation that Susie herself is Mother Suspirium reincarnate, and Tilda Swinton's transformative triple role. Tom Yorke's Radiohead score replaces the Goblins' eerie drones with something equally haunting.

Both films explore the same recurring theme: belonging. Susie doesn't flee the coven, she discovers she was always meant to be there. Like the previous episode's Midsommar, the horror lies not in external threat but in the protagonist's gradual recognition that this dark world is home.

The hosts examine real folklore versus invented mythology, the craft of building suspense through long, unsettling shots, and why Dakota Johnson's years of dance training matter to the film's visceral power.

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The Witch Movie Project: The Wicker Man & Midsommar

Folk horror didn't start with Midsommar. It started in 1973 with The Wicker Man, and this episode traces that lineage through two films that ask the same question: what happens when belief systems collide?

Just Blane and Courtney Pearl break down Christopher Lee's favorite performance, the real mythology hidden in every frame, and why these movies work as both horror and commentary on community. The Wicker Man presents Sergeant Howie's Christian faith against an island's pagan rituals. Midsommar flips the script: instead of resistance, Danny finds belonging in a community that offers what her own family never could.

Both films are built on genuine folklore. The maypole, the Wheel of the Year, the runes carved into every surface, the Ättestupa ritual, these are rooted in actual Nordic and Celtic tradition, even when the movies push them toward the horrific. Courtney decodes the symbolism frame by frame: the Othala rune meaning home and inheritance, the costume design that transforms Danny from outsider to accepted member, the foreshadowing woven into murals and songs.

The real tension isn't supernatural. It's about isolation, belonging, and whether community can justify anything. One character resists. One surrenders. Both endings leave you unsettled.

Subscribe wherever you listen. Watch the full episode at https://youtube.com/@ridethewavemediapodcast

More from the network at https://ridethewave.media/witch-movie-project