Category:Film:Witchcraft

Films featuring witches and witchcraft, generally in a fairly traditional way: this sort of film will probably cross over with Gothic Horror, American Gothic/Southern Gothic, and Folk Horror, with malevolent, spell-casting witches in league with Ye Devil.

Lovecraft was inspired by Gothic Horror, and helped to invent the modern American Gothic and Southern Gothic genres, and did use witches in a couple stories (notably, "Dreams in the Witch-House (fiction)"). Folk Horror is a genre centered on the concept of the survival of witch cults into modern eras in rural or sometimes urban locations; Folk Horror may take some small inspiration from Lovecraft and the "Lovecraft Circle", and especially from their Gothic influences, but otherwise generally isn't often closely related to Lovecraftian horror; still, some Folk Horror films will find their way into Lovecraftian film lists (and this category) when they have some tangential "Lovecraftian" qualities.

Trivia:

• Rhabdophobia is a fear of magic or magicians (the word rhabdophobia refers to a magic wand or staff; the term can also refer to a fear of the sight of or being attacked with a rod or staff or broomstick); phobia victims who are afraid of magic are typically afraid of a specific type of magic, such as
  • illusion or stage magic and/or stage magicians
  • shock/geek/bizarre magic such as sword-swallowing or resting on a bed of nails
  • actual sorcery and witchcraft
• Wiccaphobia is a fear of witches and witchcraft;
• ailurophobia or gatophobia is a fear of cats (perhaps black or grey cats, often the familiar of choice for fictional witches);
• ranidaphobia is a fear of frogs;
• bibliophobia is a fear of books (perhaps spellbooks, grimoires, and tomes).