Plot: A witch in modern-day uses spells to get men to fall in love with her.

This is another one of those times, that I am potentially dipping my toes into something completely different.

What I got from the trailer was that it was paying homage to those 1960's over-the-top horror's and melodramas. It was going to be either that, or maybe something like the Bewitched TV series that I remember watching or Blithe Spirit.

Well, it is most certainly the former. While I was loving the old school look to it, I was trying to work if I was enjoying, confused by it, or both. It is amazing how you can enjoy somethat where you have not got a clue what's going on. Thankfully, I got most of it and few things went way over my head.

I must go to the performances first. The acting is certainly over-the-top, stiff and melodramatic. But I think it knows that it's doing it. They manage to pull it off in a charming way where you just have to laugh with it and remember how certain films or even TV series were like back then.
Samantha Robinson is terrific in the leading role. She has quite a screen presence and fully empowers the leading role. While the film itself might not have the Bewitched tone I was possibly expecting. Robinson definitely has a Samantha Stephens quality to her character.
Gian Keys was a bit of a stand-out in the second half of the film. The over-seriousness in his face was quite amusing and his chemistry with Robinson was solid. Laura Waddell also had good comradery with our leading lady. As for Jeffrey Vincent Parise, it was like he had leapt out of those trashy horror films you usually see in a drive-in theatre.

By the far the films strongest aspect, is the technical side. I have to say fair play to Anna Biller. Not only is she the director, but also producer, editor, composer, set and costume designer. This film was definitely her baby.
I loved the the old school technicolour look, cinematography and use of zooms that it had throughout. There is even one scene where the lead character is driving a car, and you can clearly tell the background is on a green screen. That is what a lot of car scenes were back in a day, and it was pretty cool to see that again.
The elaborate costume and set designs were great to look at and gave the film exactly the right tone. You can clearly see a lot of heart was put into it, and it deserves accolades.
However, the period setting was rather strange. While the location and costumes and hairstyles is very late 1960's to early 1970's, there are present day cars being driven and people are using mobile phones. So I'm not sure if it's an alternate present or something else. I think like the acting, it is hard to tell if it's totally fully self-aware.

I did have a couple of negatives. It felt a bit too long. I think a good 20 mins could have been cut out. But I think with the director also being the editor, I think she could not kill off some scenes that in our eyes dragged the pacing of the film.
Also, I don't think the rewatchability will do well for me. It is not the type of film I would watch again as the strangeness of it all was not engaging enough. I would probably only watch it again for the imagery.

While it is quite weird, I rather enjoyed it. While it is clear this will divide audiences, I thought it was funny in a cheeky sense and weirdly submersive, bathed in camp, and as mentioned before, it is very stylish. It also had a sense of The Wicker Man about it. But it is definitely nowhere near as disturbing.
The script certainly brings up some interesting topics. What I got out of it was an feminist update on what the female's views used to be through the medium of witchcraft. I liked the world building. It explained the rules well and it got me interested in what was going on.

People are definitely going to come out of it in such a polarizing way. While it is something that is not usually my cup of tea, and this is due to my lack of knowledge of this type of sub-genre. But I still found to be highly intriguing and pretty entertaining.

Rating: 7/10