History Film / TheLoveWitch

* AmbiguousDisorder: Elaine displays some [[SociopathicHero sociopathic]] tendencies. She manipulates men, using magic, potions and good old-fashioned flattery to appeal to them. When they start behaving differently (usually a by-product of her spells), she dismisses them, comparing them to [[BoomerangBigot being woman-like]]. She briefly cries when [[spoiler:Wayne dies from her LovePotion]], but then ceremonially buries him with no signs of regret or doubt in her actions.

''The Love Witch'' is a 2016 American [[SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror horror-comedy]] film written and directed by Anna Biller and starring Samantha Robinson, Jeffrey Vincent Parise and Clive Ashborn.

''The Love Witch'' is a 2016 American [[SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror horror-comedy]] film written and directed by Creator/AnnaBiller and starring Samantha Robinson, Jeffrey Vincent Parise and Clive Ashborn.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The film's description of Witch Bottles - bottles full of herbs, sharp objects and bodily contents (like urine and hair) to ward away spirits - is an actual thing in modern witchcraft.

* TarotMotif: Elaine is followed by the Three of Swords card in tarot, which symbolizes "heartbreak, emotional pain, sorrow, grief, hurt".

* LovePotion: Elaine drugs Wayne with one. However, it doesn't work, causing him to hallucinate and grow clingy before dying. It was later revealed to mostly contain jimson weed (devil's weed), which both causes hallucinations and is highly toxic.

* ColorMotif: To fit the technicolor aesthetic of the film, the whole film is overlaid with basic colors, usually symbolic of the scene.

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted and Discussed. After Elaine finds she's menstruated in her sleep, and then using the bloody tampon for a spell, she remarks to herself about how periods are so stigmatized that most men have never even seen a tampon.

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: Witches have always been marginalized for being different and not fitting in, and Elaine is seen as weird and different for both her witchcraft practice and her femininity. There are also a number of allusions to witchcraft being similar to queerness, with people remarking on how it used to be heavily punished by the Christian Church, that it's still viewed with suspicion but no grounds to mistreat someone, and that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_culture_in_San_Francisco there are a lot of open practitioners in San Francisco]].

->''"I'm the love witch. I'm your ultimate fantasy."''

--> '''Barbara:''' Use sex magic to destroy his fear of you and to open the floodgates of love. Only then will he see you as a human-being with all of your inner beauty.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:While it's unclear how good a chance Elaine has of escaping considering she's now known by the police and dozens of townspeople to be a murderer, the film ends with Elaine having hypnotized and killed Griff before he could arrest her.]]
* IJustWantToBeYou: Trish finds out that Elaine was responsible for Richard's adultery and suicide when she sneaks into her flat, puts on her clothes and make-up and wig, clearly jealous of Elaine's feminine beauty. This also reveals Trish's SexierAlterEgo.
* IfICantHaveYou: It is implied that Elaine killed her ex-husband before he could remarry.
* LensFlare: With the film's 1960's technicolor aesthetic, colorful lens flares are all over the place, especially when a character is under any [[BeerGoggles dream-like]] state.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy:
** Elaine's mission to find her true love results in a few deaths that implicate the neopagan community in town.
** The LovePotion Elaine gives Wayne brings on nightmarish hallucinations and causes him to become clingy and overwhelmed with hallucinations before he dies the next day.
** Richard becomes overwhelmed with desire for Elaine, so overcome that he breaks it off with Trish and eventually commits suicide.

* HermeticMagic: Images from the Thoth tarot deck are seen in paintings in Elaine's apartment, and there are Egyptian runes on her pentagram rug.

* ShrineToTheFallen: Elaine has an altar on her dresser with lit candles, and photos and artifacts of the men she has killed. It is so creepy, including locks of hair, used condoms, and toiletries, that it also qualifies as a StalkerShrine.

* HomoeroticSubtext: It is strongly implied that Trish is attracted to Elaine, since when she first meets her she remarks on how pretty she is and then quickly covers it up by insisting that didn't mean anything by it and that she's married.

* KissofDeath: It's strongly implied that everyone Elaine kisses or makes love with is going to die.

* IJustWantToBeYou: Trish finds out that Elaine was responsible for Richard's adultery and suicide when she sneaks into her flat, puts on her clothes and make-up and wig, clearly jealous of Elaine's feminine beauty.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:While it's unclear how good a chance Elaine has of escaping considering she's now known by the police and dozens of townspeople to be a murderer, the film ends with Elaine having hypnotized and killed Jerry before he could arrest her.]]

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: There's a number of allusions to witchcraft being similar to queerness, with people remarking on how it used to be heavily punished by the Christian Church, that it's still viewed with suspicion but no grounds to mistreat someone, and that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_culture_in_San_Francisco there are a lot of open practitioners in San Francisco]].

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:While it's unclear how good a chance Elaine has of escaping considering she's now known by the police and dozens of townspeople to be a murderer, the film ends with Elaine having hypnotized and killed Jerry before he could arrest her.]]

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: There's a number of allusions to witchcraft being similar to queerness, with people remarking on how it used to be heavily punished by the Christian Church, that it's still viewed with suspicion but no grounds to mistreat someone, and that there are a lot of open practitioners in San Francisco.

* BurnTheWitch: In the climax, everyone in the bar overhears that Elaine was responsible for Wayne and Richard's deaths, stripping Elaine down with the intentions of killing and/or raping her, shouting "burn the witch" as they do so.

* HollywoodSatanism: Professor King's definition of "Black Witches."

--> ''I'm the love witch. I'm your ultimate fantasy.''

** Elaine herself is symbolized by black and white. She has very pale skin and is usually dressed in all-black to compliment her hair. When she buries Wayne, she burns her rainbow-colored coat as an offering. She had a black and white cat that had died, and she herself claiming that she wants to be reincarnated as a cat when she dies.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Throughout the film, shots of a painting of [[spoiler:a woman ritualistically cutting a man’s heart out]] are shown. Guess what she does at the end of the film.