Today’s blogosphere is exploding with coverage of the Arizona shootings on Saturday that left a number of people dead and wounded. One intended target was Gabrielle Giffords (still in critical condition), a congressional representative, and federal judge John Roll (deceased). Other victims include one of Giffords’ aides, and a nine-year old girl born on September 11, 2001 who had recently been elected to her student council. As rarely happens with such events, the alleged shooter is actually still alive and... Read more

You’d think it was the 1970s all over again, what with so many occult-themed stories in film recently. 2010 brought us The Last Exorcism (a clever, subversive premise that unfortunately dissolves into precious chaos), Devil (a kinda spooky but mostly lame story of random folks trapped in an elevator who just start dying), last year gave us The House of the Devil (a cool cinema verite story of a cult leader), and in just a few weeks The Rite opens... Read more

So, you may be aware, Season of the Witch opens tomorrow. (Yes, I’m going and will post a review…you may have noticed, I’m a trifle obsessed with this film) The website handling much of the film’s hype decided to explore the wide world of witches on television and in film, “inspired by the wonderful Claire Foy who conjures up a terrific performance” by offering their whopping huge list of FIVE “memorable” witches; and naturally, one of them is the witch... Read more

As part of the increasingly gadget-oriented hype ploys for Season of the Witch, now Android users can get a “Witch Hunt” application for their smart phones. I found this via the film’s Facebook page which linked to the app’s page on the AppBrain website. The description begins “Witches walk all around us. They are responsible for great devastation, performing harrowing evils from the guises of the shadows.” And it goes on from there. Apparently you point your phone at a... Read more

It’s been a while since I saw a new book in the field of paganism, magic, witchcraft or the occult that has been unique or exciting. Recent offerings in occult books have mostly been retreading earlier materials, so in recent years I’ve been more likely to be drawn to some academic titles (like Douglas Cowan’s Sacred Terror). But this new book by Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate is one of the most exciting new books I’ve seen in a while.... Read more

From the website that brings you the best in cool stuff, The Awesomer, comes this short film, The Faeries of Blackheath Woods, written and directed by Ciaran Foy. Very well done and very unexpected. Read more

John Morehead of the excellent website Theofantastique interviewed me this week about Season of the Witch. Though obviously neither of us have seen the film yet, John asked me some intriguing questions about the film and the impact it may have on the pagan community and on audiences in general. My thanks for for his tireless and interesting work exploring the world of religion, fantasy and horror. Read more

After The Last Exorcism drew a respectable number of theatre-goers and some decent box office earlier this year (not bad for a first-time filmmaker), it would seem exorcism is again a hot topic, and this time on a bigger budget. Sir Anthony Hopkins stars in The Rite, helmed by Swedish director Mikal Hafstrom, whose previous work includes Derailed, Evil and the paranormal triller 1408. Hopkins plays an American priest who travels to Italy to study at a school for exorcists.... Read more

This award-winning ad for Orange was recognized by the British Television Advertising Awards, and recognized also by the Celluloid Junkie blog. It even has a Facebook page! It’s a sweet story of a girl who likes to see films with her friend, who also happens to be the Wicked Witch of the West. Read more

I’ll admit, I knew next to nothing about this series of books aimed at young adult readers. It’s called Sweep in the U.S. (where the stories tale place), but is called Wicca in the Uk, Netherlands, Australia and Belgium, and White Magic in France and Italy. In Scandinavia, it’s not called anything at all, because its publication there was cancelled due to worries over the “religious” content. The story centers around a “blood witch” named Morgan Rowlands who becomes involved... Read more