Magic at the movies...

[annwfyn]

A hopeful Sally writes:

Can anyone think of any films about witchcraft/wizardry etc other than Harry Potter? Right now, I've got a list of Practical Magic, the Craft, Constantine - what else is there out there? TV shows also acceptable.

Last night pierot and myself got a DVD out. We wound up watching 'the Covenant' which is a fairly tatty but quite entertaining supernatural thriller about a group of teenage boys with magical powers - the back story is their their ancestors made some covenant with dubious forces, and in return the eldest son of every generation gets magical powers.

The film itself was marginally entertaining, but it got us talking afterwards about the ideas of magic in the film. In the film, there was no White Wolf stylee 'society of magic users' particularly. There were references to 'the laws' which Jeremiah suspected could have indicated that there was some kind of authority out there which went beyond these four families, but there was no big society, structure, hierachy and list of Traditions/Litany/Laws. Magic, in that world, was something which happened on a small scale.

We then got talking some more, mostly about the metaphysics of the world the film was based in. The Sons of Ipswich (the Covenant characters) got their magic as part of a compact with some force, by which the oldest sons gained magic, but it prematurely aged them. It occured to us that this didn't have to be the way magic worked for everyone - others could make different covenants. The women in Practical Magic, for example, effectively sacrificed a husband every generation if they ever fell in love. The girls in the Craft, obviously, made different deals. And all those films could, theoretically, take place in the same world.

I'm now looking for other films/books/TV shows which take place in that world. Jeremiah quite likes the idea of the Harry Dresden world loosely fitting in there* - Harry Dresden's mother basically sold him to a fairy in return for power, and it's implied that that is one of the reasons he may have his power too - and I think we both had doubts about the Buffy-verse due to its rather inconsistent attitude towards magic. I'm now running out of ideas, however. Does anyone have any other suggestions?




*there may be spoilers there - highlight if you want to read

Comments

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

Harry Dresden world of the books rather than the TV series, hopefully. :)

Um...you're right, there's not that many. Witches of Eastwick? Warlock? Not a wonderful selection.

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

Does Warlock count? Its a piece of tat, but its about witchcraft I suppose.

Supernatural is a more general occulty show in a kind've Buffy vein. (I was surprised to find myself enjoying it)

[borusa.livejournal.com]

"Charmed" is the obvious TV show. It might be difficult to fit "Sabrina : The Teenage Witch" or "Bewitched" into that world, as they have fairly clearcut hierarchies and witchy police forces and stuff. Also, they're comedies (ish).

The first couple of episodes of "Robin of Sherwood" have some fairly interesting magic stuff in.

[morinon.livejournal.com]

Well, one idea of magic can be found in Niven's "The Magic Goes Away" and other books. Basic idea that mana is a depletable resource. Probably wouldn't fit in too well with what you've got there.

Lawhead's Pendragon cycle, while set in Arthurian Britain, does contain some kinds of magic. That's about all I've got.

[davedevil.livejournal.com]

You looking for modern day such deals?

Charmed has a consitant, if fluffy, magical approach.

Moviewise:

Witches of Eastwick
Bell Book and Candle
The Village
Sleep Hollow

Books:

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud deals havily with demonic pacts and the like.

Robert E Howard's approach to magic, its a bad and dark place to be!

Comics:

Lucifer, in entirity
Fables, where the witches apear
Sandman, which teaches us never to make deals with pasty faced goths with unruly hair.
Hellblazer, alllllll of it.

I can think of more but not sure which 'period' you want

[madwitch.livejournal.com]

Hex, possibly. Though that is very much the 'covenant with the devil' kind of magic.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Modern day very much appreciated if possible.

Hellblazer I have never read, something which I have to remind folk around on occasion, when I talk about the Constantine film. For someone with no connection to the comics, it's a much better movie. :p

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Bewitched also has the massive disadvantage of having been re-made into World's Worst Film Ever with Nicole Kidman.

It was a very bad film...

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I believe so. pierot is a big fan of the books. I've never read them, sadly, and have only vaguely glanced at the TV series from time to time.

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

I was going to say Warlock :D
So cheesy and good :)

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Supernatural is fantastic! I loves it very very much. Tis one of my favourite shows.

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Ninth Gate? That's got occult doom in it :)

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

Cast a deadly spell... film noir with casual magic use
the worst witch
The sin eater
the addams family
Hellraiser movies

Not many secret societyies of mages out there though

the covenant was awesomely bad

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

Oooh..that's quite good, esp if we're accepting all films which imply there is some kind of external forces beyond our world. I wonder if that means that various catholic-magic-mystic stuff is doable?

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

The Covenent was quite good fun, I thought, although it was a lot like watching a pilot for a TV series. They even left the ending wide open for the bad guy to come back.

It was no worse than many many other films I've seen, and was daft enough that I didn't cheated into watching it.

[cairmen.livejournal.com]

Warlock. Fantastic film with Julian Sands. Avoid the sequel.

To Cast A Deadly Spell. Film Noir with magic. Haven't seen it, but I hear it's good.

It's worth noting that magic in Buffy splits into two halves - the "Magic is sinister, dangerous and mostly in Latin" approach of Season 1 - 3, and the "fluffy rhyming women power Wicca" of Season 4 onward. I prefer the former. You probably guessed.

The Prestige. There's one magician, but there's a magician. Anda very interesting take on magic.

Last Call, Earthquake Weather by Tim Powers. If you're thinking about modern magic and haven't read these, it's a bit like thinking about Roman fiction without reading Bernard Cornwell.

The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper.

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

I fear you may have been watching another movie... these guys have the power to change the world and they fight with bad wirework and cheap cgi effects? I want those 90 minutes back!

[davedevil.livejournal.com]

Film is reletivly scant, Hellboy covers a lot fo the principels but the Comcis are much much better.

Mirror Mask, Labrynth and PAn's Labrunth all deal with principles of pacts and deals.

The terrible film with Keanu Reves as the lawyer who makes a deal with devil I guess also fits the bill.

Plus of course Bedazzled is also of that ilk but forgivable only for Liz Hurley in tight dresses.

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

ooo, if you're going for catholic-magic-mystic, then anything like the Prophecy, Omen and Exorcist series of films, Stigmata, the exorcism of emily rose, those sorts of things, all imply demonic doom is out there ready to do bad things to us :)

Hmm.. The above sounds pretty much like a list of some of the films I have at home :D

An unrelated oddness...

[sea-cucumber.livejournal.com]

Randomly, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is deeply occult - it uses a real demon's name for a start!
I always found that very worrying, especially as when I was little it was one of my favourite films and I thought said demon's name sounded cool and used to draw diagrams featuring it to do 'pretend magic spells'.

Hmm... Explains a lot...

[castorlion.livejournal.com]

Charmed shows magic on TV
But spells must always rhyming be;
The power of three will set us free
With scansion and rhyme applied irregularly..

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

Neverwhere?

Also, not quite modern magic, but if you haven't read any Robert Holdstock, particularly his Mythago Wood stuff, you really really ought to. It's very you.

King of Morning, Queen of Day by Ian McDonald has an interesting take on faerie magic IIRC. But it's a long time since I read it.

[lilitufire.livejournal.com]

Also, Googling for that I found this, which I think is rather lovely.

http://www.horslips.ie/celtic7.html

[lawrencegillies.livejournal.com]

If we're talking comics you could add the Invisibles in as well.

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

I have a tragic fondness for Bedazzled. I don't quite know why, but I always liked it.

Mirrormask is a really interesting one. I like that film a lot. Pan's Labyrinth is gorgeous beyond all imagining, but I've never been sure if it was really about a deal, or about dreams, which are a bit different.