Screening as part of SXSW’s Midnighters strand, Witch Hunt offers an entirely modern slant on witchcraft. Written and directed by Elle Callahan, Witch Hunt takes place in an alternate present day America. In this world, magical witches are real and witchcraft is (at least in America) illegal. With a proposed movement to restrict, not only those convicted of witchcraft, but also their relatives, about to be voted on, tensions are high. Our story joins a Southern Californian teenager, Claire (Gideon Adlon), who is hiding a secret – her family are secretly helping witches cross the border into the far more welcoming country of Mexico. Claire has a lot of prejudice against the women that her mother helps, but finds herself questioning her views when two young sisters arrive. But with law enforcement closing in, will Claire be able to help them on their quest for asylum?
The premise of Witch Hunt is genius. Witches and witchcraft have always been difficult to portray on screen, with far more films failing than succeeding. Most rely on keeping things traditional and set themselves in older times, but by creating a setting within the modern world, it freshens everything up. Of course it’s not the first film to take place in a more updated environment, but having the modern world aware and afraid of magic adds an extra layer of intrigue. Opening with the location tag of ‘New England’, with a witch being burned at the stake, feels very standard witch film; then the timestamp of ‘Present Day’ arrives and a chill runs through your veins.
Given the climate of our own modern world, especially during the Donald Trump reign in America, Witch Hunt has a clear allegorical element to it. The witches here work as a perfect metaphor for the American people who are being discriminated against for either their country of birth, or the colour of their skin. The way in which Claire and her family conceal and help the witches is a clear nod to the underground railroads that helped enslaved African Americans flee to Canada. This tie into real-life dynamics instils an authenticity, despite it’s supernatural components, that really resonates. Here, girls are regularly screened for the witch gene; anyone suspected of being one is subjected to something horrendous called a Sink Test. Those that test positive are rounded up and placed into camps, or worse still, executed. The stark comparison to what has happened in America in recent years also makes the actions of the law enforcers entirely believable.
With plenty of focus on the building of worlds and societal norms, the narrative plot is stripped back and kept fairly simple – a sheltered girl questions her views when she connects with the source of her prejudice. This allows the relationship between Claire and the eldest sister, Fiona (Abigail Cowen), to take centre stage. The pair bond over their ostracism from society, Claire removed because of the dangerous nature of her mother’s mission to help, and Fiona by her genetic code. Both are outsiders and this commonality connects them; and a sweet and tender relationship forms. Witch Hunt also explores the relationship between feuding mother and daughter through Claire and her mother Martha (played by Elizabeth Mitchell). Each has very different views on the task at hand and conversations between the two allow discourse on, not only their world and climate, but ours too.
Lead actor Gideon Adlon recently appeared in The Craft Legacy and so is no stranger to the world of witches, but of the two, Witch Hunt is by far the stronger and more complex movie. Cast into the background in the former, here Adlon steps into the stoplight and proves her worth as a leading lady. Her performance as Claire is completely natural and entirely believable. She manages to convey Claire’s inner emotional struggle astutely, wasting none of her emotional range. As Fiona, Cowen has less work to do, her character far less complex, but she manages to do a lot with what time she is given.
There’s a slow and steady pacing to Witch Hunt that in uncertain hands might have dragged. Callahan however, knows exactly how to handle the film and as considered as the pace is, the runtime passes by in the blink of an eye. By allowing the film time to breathe Claire is given the opportunity to think and so her changing opinions feel genuine. This approach is strangely reminiscent of Jim Mickle’s Stake Land, exchanging a vampire theme for witches, but still retains that core of humans and their potential to do good.
An exquisitely crafted film, the rural and remote setting making way for some incredibly gorgeous starscape vistas, Witch Hunt is compelling and complex. It does stumble in its closing moments however. Ending in an homage that is a direct callback to a film that Claire and Fiona connect over, we’re left with no real conclusion to the story. Resolution isn’t always needed, but here it’s a little disappointing that we don’t get to see exactly how the journey ends. Beautifully realised by Elle Callahan, Witch Hunt is one heck of an original premise. Completely reinventing the underappreciated witch genre, Witch Hunt tells a compelling and complex story about prejudice and acceptance.
Witch Hunt was reviewed at SXSW Festival 2021.
Witch Hunt
Summary
Elle Callahan perfectly mirrors societal prejudices in this alternative story of America, whilst at the same time reinventing one of the trickiest genre subjects. Witchcraft just got a much needed new lease of life.
