Ritualistic horror film Spell premieres this Friday, and it’s fairly frightening. It is also seemingly accurate in its depiction of magic. Black magic is not always depicted in mainstream horror, although the theme has enough meat to be able to produce many successful films. Despite the fact that not enough popular horror movies focus on this topic, here are eight films that do.
The Serpent and the Rainbow
Directed by horror master Wes Craven, this Voodoo classic from the 80s is horrific, but also reportedly inspired by true events. The Serpent and the Rainbow stars Bill Pullman as an anthropologist who gets in way over his head when he investigates reports of people being transformed into zombies via magic in Haiti.
The visceral film is based on a nonfiction novel of the same title by Wade Davis, a real-life anthropologist. Davis's book details his investigation into a man who was allegedly killed by magic practitioners and brought back to life as a zombie. The movie takes that initial idea and morphs it into a truly terrifying horror epic, featuring iconic sequences that any horror buff would enjoy, including a scene with a tarantula and a moment that no claustrophobic person ever should watch.
The Skeleton Key
Like Spell, The Skeleton Key is a ritualistic horror film that features the practice of Hoodoo, something that is usually glossed over whenever the media depicts magic. The Skeleton Key stars Kate Hudson as a hospice nurse who begins to realize that the couple who hired her to be the caretaker of a Louisiana plantation harbors dark secrets involving the occult.
The Skeleton Key is a perfect example of a southern gothic horror film, and is a slow burn equipped with surprising twists and turns. The performances are top-notch as well. Kate Hudson shines as a horror heroine, and the late movie legend Gena Rowlands does not disappoint in a sinister role.
Angel Heart
Featuring a younger Robert De Niro in a very devilish role, Angel Heart is a Voodoo masterpiece. The movie follows a private investigator named Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) who finds himself embroiled in a string of murders in New Orleans after looking into the disappearance of a jazz musician.
Based on a novel titled Falling Angel by William Hjortzberg, production companies were afraid to finance the film when it first entered development because of its racy content. Eventually, independent producers made the movie happen. Equipped with shocking ritualistic violence and graphic sexual content, the neo-noir horror film was subjected to endless edits by the MPAA in order to avoid the dreaded X rating. Although the film failed to break even at the domestic box office when first released, it has since been reappraised by many critics and has proven to be quite influential throughout the years.
I Walked With A Zombie
An old-school horror flick from 1947, I Walked With A Zombie loosely retells the story of the classic novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, but throws Voodoo and zombies into the mix. The RKO-produced oldie depicts a nurse who travels to the Caribbean to help the wife of a sugar plantation owner who has been reportedly acting strangely.
Initially panned when first released, the classic horror movie is now regarded as one of the best zombie films of all time and has influenced countless other movies throughout the years. While I Walked With a Zombie's depiction of female sexuality and race may be far from progressive, the fact that subjects like these were heavily acknowledged in a film from the 1940s at all is incredible in itself.
Zombi Child
A French horror drama that's heavy on the drama, Zombi Child is more interested in diving deep into the psyches of the characters than scaring the audience. However, there are a few scenes that will still do the trick if fear is something you seek. The film follows a Haitian teen living in France who reveals to her new friends that a family member of hers was brought back from the dead via Voodoo.
The movie brings a very realistic approach when depicting the practice of dark magic. Nothing here is intended to scare, it just shows the truth of a family's history. The frightening aspect of the movie comes naturally because of the content. The scares aren't constructed in a way that they would be in a typical horror film. There is no true villain here, just real people caught up in supernatural situations.
Tales From The Crypt Presents: Ritual
A loose reimagining of I Walked With A Zombie but featuring an intro starring the legendary Cryptkeeper, This third installment in the Tales From the Crypt film series is silly fun. Starring Jennifer Grey and Tim Curry, Ritual follows a doctor who flees to Jamaica to find work as a nurse after she causes the death of a patient in the states. Soon, our protagonist finds herself the target of a nefarious Voodoo cult.
While this film may not be a movie to take seriously, it is definitely something to check out for fans of the original Tales of the Crypt series or of movies about ritualistic cults. Since I Walked With A Zombie is such a classic, it's fun to see a more modern update of the story, and it's an added bonus that it's done as a tale conjured up by one of pop culture's most beloved ghouls, the Cryptkeeper.
Venom
A lesser-known genre flick from the mid-2000s, Venom is a slasher with a Voodoo theme at its core. The movie tells the story of a man who becomes possessed by thirteen different souls due to magical snakes. The story may sound over-the-top, and that's because it is. This movie is jam-packed with creative kills and silly horror cliches, making it all the more enjoyable.
Slashers with a Voodoo backdrop are fairly uncommon, which makes this film more special than it really has a right to be. Feeling like a supernatural twist on Scream, Venom deserves to be seen more often. Although the movie is mainly focused on its body count, it's a great popcorn flick with plenty of scares.
White Zombie
Made in 1932 during the pre-code era of Hollywood, this independently produced horror film starring genre legend Bela Lugosi is widely known as the very first zombie movie. The movie follows a witch doctor played by Lugosi, who uses Voodoo in order to turn a young woman into a zombie slave.
Although considered a classic now, White Zombie was met with a negative initial reception by critics. The acting and the story were the main points of criticism, and the movie was considered inferior to many other horror films that were produced by Universal Pictures. With time, however, this film became so influential that it even helped start a sub-genre -- the zombie film.