YMMV / The Witches of Eastwick

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Daryl actually the Devil, or was he literally brought into existence (complete with his own delusions of being the Devil) by the Witches, drawing on their subconscious? It sure is interesting that he can waltz into a church in the middle of a service without suffering any Holy Burns Evil effects, suggesting that whatever the cosmology of the Eastwick universe might be, it's not quite the conventional angels-and-demons deal…
  • Assuming he is a Devil, is he Satan, or is he being literal when he describes himself as a “''little'' devil”? If the latter, a whole new light may be shined on his tantrum about no one ever paying him any attention or respect.
  • Is Daryl's monologue in the church about “God making mistakes” just so much angry, disjointed rambling? An attempt to corrupt, or at the very least offend, the Christians in attendance? Or a genuine window into the way Daryl/the Devil sees himself as the hero of his own story, a poor sod stuck in a Crapsack World run by a petty and fallible God?
  • Similarly, how truthful is he when he claims he loves, or at least wants to learn to love, the Witches? What about when he throws a childlike tantrum about their not paying attention to him — is that just frustration that they're slowing down his Evil Plan, or is he genuinely a pathological attention-seeker in constant need of validation? (Whether that latter interpretation would make him more or less unsympathetic is, of course, up to the viewer.)
• Awesome Music: John Williams composed. You should expect this.

• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: At one point in the novel, the lawn of the Lennox mansion is described as being “as perfect and precise as a Wiccan diagram.” The word ‘diagram’ in that context makes no sense. This is likely an editor’s mistake, as ‘pentagram’ not only makes more sense but is more alliterative as well.
• Memetic Mutation: This bizarre passage from the novel where one of the characters laments how long it takes women to pee and envies men's ability to pee without waiting has become a punchline for male authors not understanding the basics of female anatomy.
• Moral Event Horizon: In-universe, the three witches consider Darryl to cross this when he nearly kills Sukie.
• Nausea Fuel: This movie might put you off eating cherries for a while...
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The One-Winged Angel near the end of the film.
  • Alex awakening to a bed full of snakes.
  • Jane's body begins rapidly aging, causing her to flee the manor in a panic.
  • Sukie experiences sudden, agonizing pain, set to Darryl violently cutting and eating a tomato.
• Older Than They Think: As the climax approaches, the soundtrack suddenly seems familiar.
• Values Dissonance: The conservative-leaning John Updike, at least in part, intended for the novel to be a commentary/semi-satire on the women's lib movement and the liberal attitudes of the 60's. Most of this is removed in later adaptions, which focus on the sexual and magical realist elements of the story.

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