Dir: Nicolas Roeg, 1989, USA, 91 mins
Cast: Angelica Huston, Mai Zetterling, Jasen Fisher, Jane Horrocks, Rowan Atkinson
Review by Craig Driver
Witches, children, and irate hoteliers come together in Nicolas Roeg’s fevered adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic tale. Not as squeaky clean as some might expect, The Witches captures the crazed half-wit horror of Dahl and lobs in a thick slice of high-camp melodrama.
Big screen adaptations of Dahl’s work have often lost something in the translation from the page. Roeg, seemingly aware of encountering such a loss, reinvents The Witches with a saturated sense of dread and a clear eye for visual humour. Determinedly British despite the obvious American influence, the film slaloms around the usual clichés of child-orientated cinema and delivers a disturbing tale.
Delivered with a cheeky grin The Witches is clever enough to understand that Dahl works best when the adults have something to fear as well as the kids. Luke (Fisher) and his Norwegian Grandma (Zetterling), both acutely aware of the witches and their myth, end up sharing a seaside hotel with a carbuncle-ridden coven masquerading as the cheekily named R.S.P.C.C. (Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Children). Roeg’s film flourishes, albeit in muted colours, due to the virtuoso casting throughout. Zetterling is perfectly half-baked in her lunacy while Fisher, despite his American twang, is cute and defiant in his forthright tenacity. Rowan Atkinson, fresh from his Blackadder high-jinks, is suitably obsessive as the Hotel manager keen to wrap his tongue around the heels of any well-to-do female guest. Above all these performances though struts Angelic Huston as the Grand High Witch in all her archaic elegance. Subverting her obvious grace and beauty Huston is wonderfully decadent in her east-European drag queen chic. Spitting out Dahl’s words with a moronic glee Huston tears the film at the seams delivering a burlesque brand of pantomime horror.
In previous fare such as Don’t Look Now Roeg delivered art-shock chills with a distinctively European feel. Along with The Witches screenwriter Allan Scott, also responsible for the screenplay for Don’t Look Now , Roeg has orchestrated Dahl’s macabre premise into a child-orientated horror film. Walt Disney and Pixar may dominate the cute and cuddly but with The Witches Sunday afternoon entertainment takes a twisted turn to the dark side. Jim Henson’s grotesque parade of puppetry drag Dahl’s warped vision to life adding a thick veneer of gothic charm to the understated ribaldry on display in what was to prove Henson’s last foray into film. A mediocre hit on its initial release, Roeg’s take on Dahl’s blackened fairy tale has infected the nightmares of an entire generation through repeated television screenings.
The Witches remains a chilling account of the dark hearted humour Dahl dished out so regularly. While Dahl fanatics may denounce Roeg for his sentimental conclusion it is hard to deny a film so readily at ease with it’s devilish indulgence. Terrifying in a whole new guise The Witches retains that delicate balance between fear and exhilaration that allowed Dahl’s tale to wrap itself so tightly around the hearts of an entire generation of children.
