It is the true cross quarter of Samhain tonight, and so Lilith Dorsey and I will be wearing black (well, we usually do anyway) for our Samhain Edition of our weekly chat. Here’s the link to the recorded video! This show just keeps getting crazier and more intense, doesn’t it? Read more
The portrayal of witches in films as evil, seductive, greedy for power, bloodthirsty, cruel -- well, I think it's all built upon some combination of fairy tales, the horror story that was the Salem Witch Trials, and the paranoid portrayals from the years of the European witch craze. Plus Hollywood, which decided around 1938 that pointy black hats and green warty skin were de rigeur (I think they got that from a Goya painting). Read more
This week's episode, "Fearful Pranks Ensue," was one of the liveliest yet, (and also takes place at Hallowe'en!) and we're left with many unsolved mysteries. Read more
I've always loved horror films, and these are scary in more ways than one! (Over a decade of Satanic Panic can be traced directly to ROSEMARY'S BABY. Think about it!) Read more
Topics for this week's chat include voodoo fertility rituals, alligators, incest, bestiality, over-sexualization, and of course, chicken. Read more
Remember the late 1990s? THE CRAFT? Then CHARMED? Then BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER? Then THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT? Then all the witchcraft stuff appearing in episodes of shows like THE X-FILES, MILLENNIUM, etc.? To quote one of the creepier moments of TWIN PEAKS: "It is happening again. It is happening right now." Read more
Well, I guess television has found witches to be hot properties once again (in case you haven’t heard about the wild popularity of AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN) these last three weeks. Variety reports that CHARMED will get a reboot from CBS. It will be a “reimagining” which means there may be changes in the story. But I am guessing we’ll still have four sisters (three at first, joined by a fourth, since it was loosely based on the same plot... Read more
Despite wanting to observe Samhain as a solemn festival that remembers our dearly departed and our ancestors, many contemporary pagans and witches also enjoy celebrating Hallowe'en. And since the trappings of Hallowe'en are so evocative of death and the occult, there may be some uneasy feelings about how to bridge the differences or separate the two events. Read more
I know, as a media critic and practicing witch and activist, that I am supposed to be overtly critical of media portrayals that trumpet the “evil witch” stereotype, but honestly, isn’t the over-the-top witch narrative something many of us were raised on and that we secretly love, crave, even? Read more
Last night Lilith Dorsey (of Voodoo Universe), Tehron Gillis, Jason Mankey (of Raise the Horns) enjoyed chatting about the latest episode of American Horror Story: COVEN. It was a lively conversation about fried chicken, zombies, and, of course, boy parts. Read more
The Witching Hour
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