THAT VERY WITCH Explores the Duality of the Witch (and Women) in Movies and Our Lives

The official description of That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie by Payton McCarty-Simas shares of the book, “That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie explores the cyclical rise and fall of the cinematic witch in American culture and her relationship to feminist movements over time. Through historical analysis and dozens of case studies, Payton McCarty-Simas analyzes how the witch came to be understood as the ultimate cultural bogeywoman on the one hand and a classic feminist symbol of empowerment on the other.”

That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie examines some of the best-known witch movies ever in its pages, everything from Rosemary’s Baby to The Witches of Eastwick to The Witch. But this book also introduces its readers to many fun and less well-known witch movies in its well-researched pages, including oddball slashers like The Devonsville Terror and psychedelic freakouts like The Color Out of Space. So, if you’re looking to learn something and get a slew of witchy movies for your to-watch list, you’re in the right place.

We also already feel obsessed with some of the kinds of witches we’ll get to meet in the book. The chapter headings of That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie tease categories such as the “Girlboss” Witch, the tragic Love Witch, and an era we can’t wait to explore, titled the “B----ification of the Witch.” Is there a catchier chapter title than that? We don’t think so. We can tell just by these glimpses into the book that McCarty-Simas has a strong sense of humor and a writing style that invites us in as we sift through some major moments of history, pop culture, and witch lore.

Ultimately, this witch-oriented book is “a deep dive that demonstrates how changes in cinematic portrayals of the witch over time reflect major shifts in how feminism is perceived politically and interpreted culturally in America. From the birth of the Second Wave to the Moral Majority, from the Satanic Panic to “post-feminism”, from #MeToo to the 2024 election, the witch can be found at the heart of the zeitgeist. What can we learn from her presence?”

The witch and women have always been deeply connected. At times, this connection has been a beautiful one, allowing women to find their independence and freedom, while at others it has been used as a rebuke, a character type used to censure women and villify them. Setting all of these visions into a historical context will no doubt help us to understand more about the journey of the witch in pop culture, but also about the ways women are perceived and exist in our actual lives.

As fellow author Johanna Isaacson shares of the book, “That Very Witch is required reading for horror fans, feminists, witch connoisseurs, and really, all devotees of countercultural cinema and history.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie releases on July 22, 2025. You can pre-order it here and here as the perfect early Halloween gift to yourself.