8 Witchy Romance Movies Sure to Charm

There may be no witchy movie more perfect for the cozy fall season than Practical Magic. Based on the novel by Alice Hoffman, it was a box office disappointment when it premiered in 1998 but went on to become such a beloved cult classic that a sequel is currently in production. For centuries, the women of the Owens family have been cursed to never fall in love. Every woman who tries to meet the right man will see him doomed to a terrible fate. 

Sally and Gillian Owens are taken in by their aunts Frances and Jet after their parents succumb to the Owens curse. As adults, they hope for a great love story, but Gillian is stuck with an abusive jerk, and it falls upon the coven to take care of the problem. 

Anna Biller's highly stylized comedy horror takes its inspiration from classic noir, feminist film theory, and 1960s technicolor movies. The result is a unique modern love story that takes to task decades of sexist tropes on and off the big screen. The beautiful and recently widowed witch Elaine Parks relocates to Arcata, California, and hopes to find a new lover. But every time she finds a potential suitor, things go wrong, either because of her own magic or because men are just kind of weird. Is love possible or will magic and patriarchy always get in the way?

While John Updike’s novel is a wry and dense study of spinsterhood and communal paranoia in 1960s America, George Miller’s adaptation is fizzy, funny, and more focused on the friendship between the eponymous witches, played by the ever-fabulous Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Susan Sarandon. Alex, Sukie, and Jane are three single women living in Eastwick, Rhode Island, where they spend their nights together as a makeshift family. 

Unaware that they are all witches, they accidentally form a coven and summon a mysterious man to turn. Daryl Van Horne is curiously magnetic and soon has all three women in his grasp. Is he literally the devil or something far worse? Whatever the case, the witches have big plans for him...

In the village of Wall, the idealistic Tristan sees a star fall from the sky. He vows to retrieve it for Victoria, the love of his life. But doing so will lead him into the magical kingdom of Stormhold, a place where witches and mysticism run rampant. And the star? She's a woman named Yvaine. The journey to bring her back home sees Tristan fall in with pirates, magic, and voodoo, and he soon wonders if Yvaine is the one who he wants to give his heart to.

During the Salem witch hunts, Jennifer and her father Daniel were burned at the stake, but not before they cursed the entire bloodline of Jonathan Wooley, the Puritan who killed them. Now, Wooley's descendants are forever doomed to marry the wrong woman. Cut to 1942, and Wallace Wooley is preparing to marry the spoiled shrew Estelle. Jennifer and Daniel return from the grave and decide to meddle even further in Wooley's life. But there's a small hitch: a love spell gone wrong leaves Jennifer pining for her mortal enemy!

This classic rom-com from 1958, starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart, helped to inspire the beloved sitcom Bewitched. Gillian Holroyd is the owner of a rare art store in Greenwich Village. She's also a witch. Bored with life and looking for excitement, she sets her sights on her neighbor, Shep Henderson. Her meddling aunt Queenie encourages Gillian to pursue the handsome publisher, omitting the fact that he already has a fiancée. 

What's a few love spells between witches?

Hayao Miyazaki’s lush masterpiece is one of the greatest animated films ever made, but it never gets its credit as a gorgeous romance. Chihiro and her parents take a diversion on their way to their new home and end up at what seems like an abandoned theme park. It’s actually a bath house for the spirits, and they’ve turned Chihiro’s parents into pigs. 

The only way Chihiro can survive this world is to work in the bath house and wait until she can find a way to save her mom and dad. Within the walls of this beautiful bath house are fellow lost souls, including the enigmatic Haku. 

Based on the YA novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, this underrated paranormal romance helped to launch the careers of Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert. Ethan Wate has been having recurring dreams about a beautiful young woman he has never met. On the first day of junior high, she turns up in his class. Lena is part of the infamous Duchannes family, who the locals believe are devil worshippers. 

They're actually a clan of witches, and Lena is preparing for her 16th birthday, when her true nature will be revealed. Will she be led towards the light or the dark? And will Ethan be by her side when it happens?

Featured image: Warner Bros.