Reviews: The Witches of Eastwick (1987) Movie Review
Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Comedy
Subgenres: Comedy, Love Sick, Mystery, Supernatural, Thriller, Witchcraft
Our review of The Witches of Eastwick (1987) dives into the story, the scares, and whether it truly delivers the horror fans crave.
The Witches of Eastwick (1987) is a 1h 58-minute American comedy-fantasy horror film that was based on John Updike‘s novel, The Witches of Eastwick. The movie and novel differ somewhat because a lot of the major developments were dropped and the book was darker in tone than the film. Other things differ between the movie and novel including Daryl’s character is more devil-like where he is more selfish and an architect of mayhem amongst other things. The movie had an estimated budget of $22 million and grossed over $63.8 million at the box office. Director George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Happy Feet (2006), Mad Max (1979), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)) excelled at executing this film, but the story got weaker as the movie progresses.
The Witches of Eastwick revolves around Alexandra Medford, Jane Spofford, and Sukie Ridgemont, who are three unhappy and not satisfied females living in Eastwick, Rhode Island. Alexandra (Cher - Mask (1985), Moonstruck (1987), Burlesque (2010), The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour (1971-1974)) is a single mother with one daughter and is also a sculptor.
Jane (Susan Sarandon - Thelma & Louise (1991), Dead Man Walking (1995), The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), The Lovely Bones (2009)) is a music teacher that is divorced and is unable to conceive/have children. Sukie (Michelle Pfeiffer - Scarface (1983), Batman Returns (1992), What Lies Beneath (2000), Dark Shadows (2012)) is a columnist at a local newspaper company named the Eastwick Word and has six daughters.
The three woman have more in common then they know besides all of them losing their husbands one way or another, they are all witches. The trio gathers every week to talk about what types of men they would like. Daryl Van Horne (Jack Nicholson - The Shining (1980), The Departed (2006), As Good as It Gets (1997), Chinatown (1974)) mysteriously comes into town and buys the Lennox Mansion which is the town’s landmark. Everyone was amazed by Daryl except for
Felicia Alden (Veronica Cartwright - Alien (1979), The Birds (1963), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)) who is religious. Felicia knew/felt that Daryl was no good and does not belong in their town.
One of Sukie’s daughter was having a recital where Daryl showed up and then Jane receives a bouquet of flowers from him. Sukie found out the strange man’s name through her memory which started several bad things to occur. Sukie’s bead necklace broke causing Felicia, who was making fun of Daryl’s name the same time to trip on the beads and fell down a staircase and broke her leg. Daryl is on a mission to seduce the trio, but he was informed by Jane that the Lennox Mansion was built on grounds where witches were burned at the stake. Skip to the next week where we see Daryl inviting them to his mansion where they began envying each other to the point where they unwillingly levitate a tennis ball leading them to find out that they are witches.
I admire this movie and like it very much for the irresistible set-up, fantasy, exclamatory style, comedic performances, bright and flashy appearance. The special visual effects were superb and brilliant, could not have been better for a 1980s movie. With all said, I gave this movie a six because there was too much confusion throughout the movie where the charm gradually fades away before the film is over leaving me to say the climax was overdone and the last 20 minutes was not as good as the beginning of the film.
Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- The Witches of Eastwick Rating Scores
- Our Score: 6/10
- Overall Score: 6.41/10
- IMDB: 6.6/10
- MetaCritic: 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 6.6/10
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