Here are my picks for the top 20 magic and witchcraft movies in honor of the release of the new Harry Potter film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
1. The Craft (1996)
Starring Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, Rachel True, and Skeet Ulrich.
A newcomer to a Catholic prep high school falls in with a trio of outcast teenage girls who practice witchcraft and they all soon conjure up various spells and curses against those who even slightly anger them.
2. Practical Magic (1998)
Sstarring Sandra Bulluck, Nichole Kidman, and Aidan Queen.
The wry, comic romantic tale follows the Owens sisters, Sally and Gillian, as they struggle to use their hereditary gift for practical magic to overcome the obstacles in discovering true love.
3. Witches Of Eastwick ( 1987)
Starring Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer.
Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted – at a cost – when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.
4. Witches (1990)
Starring Angelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Jason Fisher, Jane Horrock.
A young boy stumbles onto a witch convention and must stop them, even after he has been turned into a mouse.
5. The Harry Potter Films (2001-2009)
Starring Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson, and Rubert Grint.
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
6. Hocus Pocus (1993)
Starring Bette Midlet, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kathy Najimy, Omri Katz, Thora Birch, and Vinessa Shaw.
300 years ago, the Sanderson sisters had bewitched people. Now it’s Halloween 1993 and Max Dennison has lit the candle that would bring the witches back to life! Now Max, Allison, and Dani must save all the kids in Salem from the witches including leader Winifred, goofy Sarah, and high-strung Mary who will steal the lives of children!
7. Escape and Return To Witch Mountain (1975) and (1978)
Starring Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann.
Two mysterious orphan children have extraordinary powers and are chased by a scheming millionaires.
8. Teen Witch (1989)
Starring Robin Lively, Amanda Ingber, and Zelda Rubinstein.
Louise is not very popular at her highschool. Then she learns that she’s descended from the witches of Salem and has inherited their powers.
9. I Married A Witch (1942)
Starring Veronica Lake and Freidrich March.
A beautiful 17th-century witch returns to life to plague politician Wallace Wooley, descendant of her persecutor.
10. Bell, Book, and Candle (1958)
Starring James Stewart, Kim Novack, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermoine Gingold, and Elsa Lanchester.
A modern-day witch likes her neighbor but despises his fiancee, so she enchants him to love her instead… only to fall in love with him for real.
11. Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Starring Angela Lansbury, David Tomlinson, Cindy O’Callaghan, Roy Snart, and Ian Weighill.
An apprentice witch, 3 kids and a cynical conman search for the missing component to a magic spell useful to the defence of Britain.
12. The Worst Witch In The World (1986)
Starring Fairuza Balk, Tim Curry,Charlotte Rae, Diana Rigg.
Mildred is one of the young girls at a prestigious witch academy. She can’t seem to do anything right and is picked on by classmates and teachers.
13. El Laberino del Fauno a.k.a Pans Labyrinth (2006)
Starring Ivana Baquero, Sergi Lopez, Maribel Vardu, Doug Jones, and Ariadna Gil.
In the fascist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
14. Mr. Boogedy and The Bride of Mr. Boogedy (1986-1987)
Starring Richard Masur, Mimi Kennedy, Benjamin Gregory, David Faustino, and Krsity Swanson.
A novelty-salesman moves his family into a new house. Initally dismissing incidents as more of their father’s practical jokes, the family soon learns that the house is haunted by people who lived in the house 300 years previously.
15. Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
Starring Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, Dennis Dun, and James Hung.
Truck driver Jack Burton, who, while hanging out with a buddy in San Franciscos Chinatown, finds himself mixed up in a Chinese gang war including mysterious wizards who specialize in blue lightning moves.
16. The Sword In The Stone (1963)
Voices of Rickie Sorenesen, Karl Swenson, and Junius Matthews.
Tired of living in a Medieval mess…Merlin uses all his magic powers to change a scrawny little boy into a legendary hero!
17. The Blair Witch Project 1 and 2 (1999-200o)
B.W.P-Starring Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael Williams.
In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary…A year later their footage was found.
B.W.2-Starring Kim Director, Jeffrey Donovan, Erica Leerhsen, Tristine Skyler, and Stephan Barker Turner.
College students at a Boston college become fascinated by the events of the three missing filmmakers in Maryland, so they decide to go into the same woods and find out what really happened.
18. Willow (1998)
Starring Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, and Warwick Davis.
Willow, a small farmer/apprentice magician, meets Madmartigan, a great swordsman, and together they journey through a war-torn land of magic and monsters, to save a baby princess from death at the hands of an evil queen.
19. Labyrinth(1986)
Starring David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly and Warwick Davis.
15-year-old Sarah accidentally wishes her baby half-brother, Toby, away to the Goblin King Jareth who will keep Toby if Sarah does not complete his Labyrinth in 13 hours.
20. Wizard of Oz and Return to Oz (1939) and (1985)
W.O.O-Starring Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Margret Hamilton, and Billie Burke.
Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home.
R.T.O-Starring Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Sean Barret, Denise Bryer, Brian Henson, Lyle Conway, Justin Case, John Alexander, and Deep Roy.
Dorothy, saved from a psychiatric experiment by a mysterious girl, is somehow called back to Oz when a vain witch and the Nome King destroy everything that makes the magical land beautiful.
