The ’90s understood that sometimes a girl needs a black cat, a questionable spell, and a group of friends willing to make terrible decisions with her. Preferably while wearing excellent boots.
From the Sanderson sisters causing chaos to teenage witches discovering that revenge comes with some fairly inconvenient side effects, ’90s witch movies gave us plenty to work with. Magical powers. Family curses. Men who really should have stayed away from certain women.
Whether you want cozy Halloween nostalgia or horror movies that put you off camping indefinitely, these nine movies deserve a spot on your watchlist.
1. The Craft (1996)
For when your friendship group needs boundaries, not more power.
Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True play four high school outsiders whose experiments with witchcraft get spectacularly out of hand. Teenage angst is already exhausting. Add magical powers and a growing appetite for revenge, and suddenly detention seems like the least of anyone’s problems.
Fairuza Balk’s Nancy Downs is the standout chaos merchant, bringing a level of intensity that makes every scene feel one bad decision away from disaster.
And the outfits? Crucifixes, dark lipstick, little skirts, massive attitude. If your teenage wardrobe looked like you were about to curse someone behind the school gym, The Craft probably deserves some credit.
Some fashion trends deserve to stay in the ’90s. This particular combination of chunky boots, dark lipstick, and looking mildly threatening in a school corridor can stay forever. You don’t need magical prowess to recreate it, just a strong eyeliner and a low tolerance for nonsense.
Watch it for: Toxic friendships, revenge fantasies, and enough eyeliner to supply an entire coven.
2. Practical Magic (1998)
For when you want a beautiful house, midnight margaritas, and fewer problems involving men.
Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play Sally and Gillian Owens, two sisters whose family history makes falling in love considerably more complicated than downloading an app and regretting it.
Based on Alice Hoffman’s novel, Practical Magic mixes romance, witchcraft, sisterhood, and some very dark relationship drama. The Owens women’s family curse is a major obstacle, but these sisters also have a talent for making a bad situation worse before making it better. Relatable, honestly.
One of the best aspects of the film is how much you want to live inside it. The house. The garden. The hair. The general possibility of dealing with your problems alongside a bunch of women who know where the candles are.
Coming from a long line of witches sounds fabulous until you realize the inheritance includes the Owens women’s family curse. Couldn’t someone have left them jewelry instead? Still, the sisters’ loyalty is what makes this a great witch movie. Romance gets complicated, but having someone who will show up when your life falls apart is the real magic.
Watch it for: Witch sisters, fierce loyalty, and wildly unrealistic real estate expectations.
Practical Magic 2 is out in cinemas right now, so if it feels like time for a family reunion then get yourself down to the movie theatre!
3. Hocus Pocus (1993)
For when subtlety is dead and Bette Midler is in charge.
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy play the Sanderson sisters, three resurrected witches determined to reclaim their youth at the expense of Salem’s children. Their big comeback unfolds over one Halloween night, because apparently even supernatural villains have scheduling issues.
There’s a talking black cat, a very unfortunate candle-lighting decision, and Thora Birch as the little sister with considerably more sense than the teenager responsible for the mess.
But the witch sisters are the main event. Winifred treats every inconvenience like a personal betrayal, Mary provides deeply questionable backup, and Sarah seems delighted just to be included.
Watch it for: Big hair, bigger performances, and three women refusing to have a quiet evening.
4. The Witches (1990)
For when you remember a cute children’s movie and then remember the face-peeling scene.
This adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel stars Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, a woman whose hatred of children makes a delayed flight full of screaming toddlers look like a mild inconvenience.
Her plan involves turning children into mice. Her management style suggests the staff Christmas party would be dreadful. And her transformation from glamorous woman to monstrous witch remains spectacularly unpleasant.
If your main memory of this film is being absolutely horrified while an adult insisted it was suitable for you, welcome to the club. There are good witches elsewhere on this list. These women have no interest in joining them.
Watch it for: Anjelica Huston being magnificent and a reminder that ’90s children’s movies did not always care about your bedtime.
5. Halloweentown (1998)
For when you’re convinced your family has been withholding your magical inheritance.
Finding out you come from a family of witches is exciting. Finding out your grandmother lives in a town full of supernatural creatures is even better.
In Halloweentown, Marnie discovers her powers and follows her grandmother Aggie, played by Debbie Reynolds, into a world where witches, ghosts, and monsters are part of everyday life. Naturally, there’s also an evil force threatening everything. You can’t even visit your grandmother without getting assigned a crisis.
This is cozy Halloween viewing with pumpkins practically baked into its DNA. Aggie is also the kind of grandmother who makes ordinary family visits seem painfully underambitious.
Watch it for: Magical family secrets and the overwhelming desire to relocate somewhere with a giant pumpkin.
6. Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)
For when puberty apparently wasn’t enough to deal with.
Before the sitcom became a staple, Melissa Joan Hart took the lead role in this TV movie about a teenager discovering she’s a witch on her sixteenth birthday.
Sabrina has eccentric aunts, new powers, and the usual teenage concerns about fitting in and getting the boy. Naturally, she starts finding magical shortcuts. Because if you were sixteen and could influence your social life with a spell, would you really begin with responsible household improvements?
The appeal is pure teen fantasy: take an awkward stage of life and add the possibility that tomorrow you might wake up with an unfair advantage.
If you came to Sabrina through Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, expect a serious change of mood. This version is much more concerned with teenage crushes and magical mishaps than occult nightmares. Sometimes you want dark horror. Sometimes you want a teenage witch making questionable decisions about a boy.
Watch it for: Melissa Joan Hart, teenage wish fulfillment, and an easy dose of ’90s nostalgia.
7. Casper Meets Wendy (1998)
For when you’re feeling witchy but emotionally require something harmless.
A friendly ghost. A young witch. A friendship that their respective families aren’t particularly enthusiastic about. Sometimes that’s all a movie night needs.
Hilary Duff plays Wendy, who befriends Casper in this sweet supernatural adventure. Her witchy aunts are played by Cathy Moriarty, Shelley Duvall, and Teri Garr, giving the grown-ups plenty of familiar faces to enjoy while the younger characters handle the friendship business.
It’s a light-hearted romp with considerably less emotional destruction than some of the other entries here. Save it for an evening when your brain has clocked out and you just want a little magic.
Watch it for: Friendly ghost energy and the comforting simplicity of a childhood favorite.
8. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
For when your fall aesthetic includes fog, elaborate sleeves, and a suspicious number of severed heads.
Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow stars Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane and Christina Ricci as Katrina Van Tassel, with a murder mystery unfolding around the terrifying Headless Horseman.
The Horseman gets the publicity, but witchcraft is woven into the story too. Spells, secrets, and supernatural meddling make this a worthy choice when you want your witch movie with a generous helping of Gothic horror.
It’s also ridiculously good-looking. Every misty landscape and candlelit room seems designed for someone who starts planning Halloween in August.
Just don’t mistake the pretty costumes for a gentle viewing experience. This film is very committed to the headless part.
Watch it for: Gothic atmosphere, dark magic, and Christina Ricci looking completely at home in the gloom.
9. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
For when you would like to cancel every camping trip you’ve ever considered.
Three film students head into the Maryland woods to make a documentary about the Blair Witch legend. Things go badly. Then they keep going badly, with increasingly little reason to believe anyone has the situation under control.
There are no glamorous witch sisters here. No fabulous kitchen. No comforting grandmother arriving with useful information. Just mounting dread and the terrible realization that you are very, very lost.
The horror comes from what you can’t see and how quickly fear turns people against each other. By the end, a pile of sticks has become a perfectly legitimate reason to leave.
Watch it for: Creeping panic and permanent confidence in your decision to book a hotel.
10. The Crucible (1996)
For when the scariest thing in town is everyone believing the loudest person.
Based on Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible stars Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor and Winona Ryder as Abigail Williams, whose accusations help send Salem into a deadly spiral.
This dramatization of the Salem witch trials swaps spells and flying broomsticks for hysteria, manipulation, and people using moral outrage to settle personal scores. Nobody needs magical powers when an accusation can destroy someone’s life.
It’s a much heavier watch than the other movies here. But if you like your witch stories with sharp social commentary, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into. The supernatural might be up for debate. The terrible behavior absolutely isn’t.
Watch it for: Winona Ryder, devastating performances, and a town that desperately needed to stop rewarding dangerous gossip.
An Honorable Mention: Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
For when you want a broomstick and a fresh start.
Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service technically belongs to 1989, although Disney’s 1998 English dub gives it a place in plenty of ’90s childhood memories.
Kiki is a young witch who moves to a new town with her black cat and starts a flying delivery service. There’s independence, self-doubt, and the pressure of trying to turn something you’re good at into a living. Suddenly this adorable animated movie feels suspiciously relevant to your adult problems.
Among the best witch movies for a gentler evening, it’s a lovely reminder that losing confidence doesn’t mean you’ve lost everything that makes you special.
Watch it for: Cozy animation, a fresh-start fantasy, and a witch whose biggest challenge isn’t defeating evil.
Still Feeling Hexy? Make It a Charmed Marathon
If two hours of witchcraft isn’t enough, the early seasons of Charmed are ready to take over your evening. Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Alyssa Milano play the Halliwell sisters, three women from a long line of witches trying to balance supernatural responsibilities with ordinary life in San Francisco.
Doherty’s character, Prue, brings the eldest-daughter energy, Piper would quite like everyone to stop making her life difficult, and Phoebe has never met a situation she couldn’t get involved in. Fighting evil is apparently easier than coordinating three adult sisters.
Add the original Love Spit Love theme tune and you have an excellent excuse to let the next episode play.
Pick Your Coven and Press Play
If you want witchy comfort, start with Practical Magic or Halloweentown. If you want attitude, put on The Craft. And if you want to spend the rest of the evening investigating every noise in your house, The Blair Witch Project is waiting.
Whichever you choose, grab the snacks and invite your best friend. Magical powers are optional. Strong opinions about which witch has the best wardrobe are practically guaranteed.
Share this list with the friend who would absolutely join your coven, then make them pick the movie.
