Witch Horror
Explore books, themes, and recommendations in Witch Horror.
What is the Witch Horror Subgenre?
The witch story has always been popular in horror fiction. Tales of dark magic users dealing with the devil or casting curses on their hapless enemies or secretive covens meeting in deep forests to enact sacred rites have long excited the imaginations of readers. Frequently, in these tales, witches were the antagonists, portrayed in negative and terrifying ways. Lately, however, witches and wizards have enjoyed a rise in popularity due to stories like Harry Potter, and like the vampire, because of this, witches and wizards have lost some of their inherent scariness.
Additionally, as witchcraft and Wicca have become more recognized as religions, witch horror has begun to take on aspects of religious horror, where the religion is portrayed in a positive light. In this case, witches will often be protagonists of stories and use their powers to fight against malevolent forces. Whether casting the witch in the role of protagonist fighting against dark forces or the malevolent antagonist, modern witch horror still has all of the magically captivating elements of earlier tales. There are still dark curses, deals with the devil, and secret rites. There will be elements of magic and the supernatural in witch horror.
The level of violence and graphic detail will vary in witch horror because witches have attracted writers from all corners of the horror genre. Here, you will find novels by the extreme horror icon, Richard Laymon, but you'll also find creepy and atmospheric tales. Regardless of the violence or whether the witch is the protagonist, there's plenty of creepiness to be found in witch horror.
Witch Horror Characteristics
Level of Characterization: The level of characterization in witch horror varies, but in general, tends to be moderate to high, particularly in more modern stories. In more modern witch horror, the witches are given more depth beyond simply being a magical, and possibly evil, character.
Level of Plot: The level of plot in witch horror will be low to moderate. In general, if a witch is the protagonist of the story, the story will center around the witch discovering her powers. If the witch is the antagonist, the level of plot will be similar to that of any other form of supernatural horror, where the witch will terrorize a character or group of characters with magic, and these characters will struggle to stop it.
Level of Supernatural: The level of supernatural in witch horror is very high as witches often use magic or employ the aid of supernatural creatures.
Level of Scary: The level of scary in witch horror is moderate to high as witch stories tend to more graphically depict spooky events than less scary subgenres horror, which merely suggest it.
Level of Violence: The level of violence varies widely in witch horror, but expect at least some violence to occur as dark curses cannot be cast nor evil demons fought without some level of violence.
Typical Setting: Similar to supernatural horror, small towns seem to be the most likely settings for witch horror, and Salem, with its history of witchcraft, seems to be a particularly popular setting.
Related Horror Subgenres
Due to the magical nature of witches, supernatural horror is naturally related to witch horror, as are other subgenres that are often lumped together in the "occult" horror subgenre. These include: voodoo horror, and Satanic horror. Dark fantasy, paranormal romance, and cross-genre horror could also be related to witch horror as these all use similar elements of magic.
Don't Read Witch Horror If You Dislike…
Magic. If you are looking for more realistic thrills, or if you prefer your supernatural to be more suggestive than explicit, witch horror is probably not the genre for you. Additionally, as witches tend to be predominantly female, if you don't want stories with strong female characters, the witch horror genre may not be for you.