Review by Eric SeverSimultaneously garish and cheap, the exploitation films of the late Sixties and early Seventies - particularly gothic European horrors -- were filled with lusty, bloody women, who were almost always relegated to being prey for some creature (often with strong sexual overtones) or to being villainous eye candy.
In THE LOVE WITCH, writer/director Anna Biller reimagines that later femme fatale archetype, lovingly throwing in all the old Satanic film tropes - tarot cards, candles, potions, pentagrams, black robes, and nude altars.
The young, witchy heroine Elaine (played by the gorgeous Samantha Robinson) is seductive, dangerous, and sexually aggressive, but she is also a woman who operates from an outdated "Stepford Wives" standard of femininity. She uses her powers almost exclusively to find and to please men. She believes that this should be the ultimate goal for any woman.
