Hi, {{first_name | friend}}!
Welcome back to Worth the Watch. As far as I’m concerned, Halloween is the entire month of October. My decorations are already up, my costume (Gomez Addams) is on the way, and I have a tradition of watching one spooky movie per week. That’s why I’m excited to yap about Sandra Bullock & Nicole Kidman’s cult classic Practical Magic as today’s movie club pick! It falls into the not-so-scary spooky movie subgenre that appeals to both horror connoisseurs and viewers who belong at Weenie Hut Jr’s, making it the perfect film to kick off the season.
Before we get into it, help me decide which film we will cover next month!👇
Movie Club: November Edition 🦃
Now, on to the review! 🚨Warning: spoilers below!🚨
October’s Pick
Practical Magic
Streaming on HBO Max
Sally and Gillian Owens, born into a magical family, have mostly avoided witchcraft themselves. But when Gillian's vicious boyfriend, Jimmy Angelov, dies unexpectedly, the Owens sisters give themselves a crash course in hard magic. With policeman Gary Hallet growing suspicious, the girls struggle to resurrect Angelov – and unwittingly inject his corpse with an evil spirit that threatens to end their family line.
Full transparency: I was never a 16 year old girl. Shocking, I know. Because of that, I have absolutely zero nostalgia associated with Practical Magic. For years, it’s been sitting on my watchlist collecting virtual dust (TV static?) as a movie that I should eventually watch, but with no compelling reason to actually watch it.
But now, thanks to y’all voting for it, I finally got to experience this beloved witchy movie for the very first time. Inspired by Meredith’s Worth the Chat format, I’ll be structuring this a little different from a traditional movie review. Below are my ramblings of every thought I had—the good, the bad, and the ugly—while watching Practical Magic.
The Practical Magic review is right behind this.
Plus, a curated list of 14 not-so-scary spooky season movies to ease you into the season.