Wicca, also known as "The Craft", is a modern pagan, syncretic, earth-centered religion. Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for theological and ritual purposes. Doreen Valiente joined Gardner in the 1950s, further building Wicca's liturgical tradition of beliefs, principles, and practices, disseminated through published books as well as secret written and oral teachings passed along to initiates.
Michelle Bauer is an American actress, model, and B movie scream queen.
Cry of the Banshee is a 1970 British horror film directed by Gordon Hessler and starring Vincent Price. It was released by American International Pictures. The title credit sequence was animated by Terry Gilliam.
Vicki Michelle is an English actress, radio presenter, businesswoman, film producer and former model. She is best known for her role as Yvette Carte-Blanche in the BBC television comedy series 'Allo 'Allo! and as recurring character Patricia Foster in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale. In 2014, she appeared on the fourteenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here.
The City of the Dead is a 1960 supernatural horror film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee, Venetia Stevenson, Betta St. John, Patricia Jessel and Valentine Dyall. The film marks the directorial debut of Moxey. It was produced in the United Kingdom but set in America, and the British actors were required to speak with North American accents throughout.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation is a 1990 American supernatural horror film directed by Brian Yuzna, written by Yuzna, Woody Keith, and Arthur Gorson, and starring Maud Adams, Tommy Hinkley, Allyce Beasley, Clint Howard and Neith Hunter. It focuses on a Los Angeles newspaper reporter who, while investigating the unexplained death of a woman, becomes entangled with a coven of Lilith-worshipping witches who are preparing her for a ritual on Christmas Eve. The fourth installment in the Silent Night, Deadly Night film series, it bears no resemblance to the previous films, as it drops the storyline of the Billy Chapman and Ricky Caldwell characters entirely.
Janet Farrar is a British teacher and author of books on Wicca and Neopaganism. Along with her two husbands, Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone, she has published "some of the most influential books on modern Witchcraft to date". According to George Knowles, "some seventy five percent of Wiccans both in the Republic and Northern Ireland can trace their roots back to the Farrars."
Patricia Haines was an English actress, best known for her television work. She was married to Michael Caine from 1954 to 1958.
Season of the Witch is a 1972 American drama film written and directed by George A. Romero, and starring Jan White, Raymond Laine, and Anne Muffly. The film follows a housewife in suburban Pittsburgh who becomes involved in witchcraft after meeting a local witch.
Witchcraft II: The Temptress is a 1990 American horror film directed by Mark Woods and starring Charles Solomon, Delia Sheppard, David Homb, Mia M. Ruiz, Jay Richardson, Cheryl Janecky, Mary Shelley, and Frank Woods. The screenplay was written by Jim Hanson and Sal Manna. The film is a sequel to the 1988 direct-to-video film Witchcraft, and the second film in the Witchcraft series. It is followed by Witchcraft III: The Kiss of Death.
The Witches is a 1966 British horror film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Joan Fontaine, Alec McCowen, Kay Walsh, Ann Bell, Ingrid Boulting and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. Made by Hammer Films, it was adapted by Nigel Kneale from the 1960 novel The Devil's Own by Norah Lofts.
Ann Michelle is a British actress.
The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early 20th century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical witch-cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray. It also is based on the beliefs from the magic that Gerald Gardner saw when he was in India. It was subsequently founded in the 1950s by Gardner, who claimed to have been initiated into the Craft – as Wicca is often known – by the New Forest coven in 1939. Gardner's form of Wicca, the Gardnerian tradition, was spread by both him and his followers like the High Priestesses Doreen Valiente, Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone into other parts of the British Isles, and also into other, predominantly English-speaking, countries across the world. In the 1960s, new figures arose in Britain who popularized their own forms of the religion, including Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and Alex Sanders, and organizations began to be formed to propagate it, such as the Witchcraft Research Association. It was during this decade that the faith was transported to the United States, where it was further adapted into new traditions such as Feri, 1734 and Dianic Wicca in the ensuing decades, and where organizations such as the Covenant of the Goddess were formed.
The Witch Who Came from the Sea is a 1976 American psychological horror film produced and directed by Matt Cimber and starring Millie Perkins, Lonny Chapman, Vanessa Brown, Peggy Feury, Rick Jason, George Buck Flower, and Roberta Collins. The film centers on an emotionally scarred woman who goes on a killing spree after taking a job as a waitress in a seaside bar. Its title refers to The Birth of Venus, which figures in the film. Dean Cundey served as associate photographer on the film.
Brain Damage Films is a US-based international independent film production company and distribution company. It was founded in 2001 by Darrin Ramage. A division located in the UK was launched in September 2009. The company's films are noted for their horror aspects and Z movie budgets. They are also known for a variety of shock/exploitation films, most notably the Traces of Death series, which was produced in response to the popularity of the Faces of Death series.
The third season of the American horror anthology television series American Horror Story, subtitled Coven, is set in 2013 New Orleans and follows a coven of witches descended from Salem as they fight for survival and features flashbacks to the Salem witch trials in 1692, as well as the 1830s, 1910s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s. The ensemble cast includes Sarah Paulson, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, Emma Roberts, Lily Rabe, Evan Peters, Denis O'Hare, Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange, with all returning from previous seasons, except Roberts and Bates. The season marks the first to not feature cast mainstays Dylan McDermott and Zachary Quinto.
Superstition is a 1982 American supernatural slasher film directed by James W. Roberson and starring James Houghton, Albert Salmi, and Lynn Carlin. The plot follows a family who move into a house that was once the site of a witch's execution. Though shot in 1981, Superstition was not released in US before 1985.
Satanic Panic is a 2019 American comedy horror film directed by Chelsea Stardust, based on a screenplay written by novelist Grady Hendrix and adapted from a story created by Hendrix and Ted Geoghegan. It is a Fangoria production.
The Craft: Legacy, also known as Blumhouse's The Craft: Legacy, is a 2020 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones. A legacy sequel to The Craft (1996), the film stars Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna as four teenage girls who practice witchcraft as a coven. Additional cast include Nicholas Galitzine, Michelle Monaghan, and David Duchovny, with Fairuza Balk making a cameo appearance.
