Release Date 22 July, 2025
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308pp.
That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie
Researched over the course of seven years, That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Movie explores the cyclical rise and fall of the cinematic witch in American culture and her relationship to feminist movements over time.
Through historical analysis and dozens of case studies, Payton McCarty-Simas analyzes how the witch came to be understood as the ultimate cultural bogeywoman on the one hand and a classic feminist symbol of empowerment on the other.
It traces the representation of “demonic women” in the past decade back to older horror cycles and through the “New Age” section of your local bookstore, investigating the (counter)cultural shifts along the way.
The book is a deep dive that demonstrates how changes in cinematic portrayals of the witch over time reflect major shifts in how feminism is perceived politically and interpreted culturally in America. From the birth of the Second Wave to the Moral Majority, from the Satanic Panic to “post-feminism”, from #MeToo to the 2024 election, the witch can be found at the heart of the zeitgeist. What can we learn from her presence?
Introduction - “Something Wicked This Way Comes”
Chapter One - Good Witch or Bad Witch: The Paradox of Womanhood
Chapter Two - The Cinematic Witch as Anxiety of the Feminine
PART ONE: Season of the Witch: The Countercultural Witch Films of the Long Sixties
Chapter Three - Setting the Stage for the Countercultural Witch Film (1960-1964)
Chapter Four - The Countercultural Witch Is Born (1965-1967)
Chapter Five - The Countercultural Witch as Feminist Symbol (1968-1973)
Chapter Six - The End of the Countercultural Witch Horror Cycle
PART TWO: Unpleasant Dreams: Feminism, Satanic Panic and the Witch Films of the 1980s
Chapter Seven - Look What’s Happened to Rosemary’s Baby
Chapter Eight - The Roots of Satanic Panic (1977-1983)
Chapter Nine - Backlash, Comedy, and the Witch Film
Chapter Ten - Witch Films, Satanic Panic Specials, and “Morale-Boosting Entertainment”
INTERLUDE: Notes on the Postfeminist Witch Film (1990-2013)
Chapter Eleven - Riot Grrrls, Girl Power, and the Bitchification of the Witch
Chapter Twelve - Fantasy, Franchising, Fracture, and the “Girlboss” Witch
PART THREE: Gender, Genre, Psychedelics, and Abjection in the 2010s “Witch” Horror Cycle
Chapter Thirteen - Defining the 2010s Witch Horror Cycle
Chapter Fourteen - Genre and the 2010s “Witch Film”
Chapter Fifteen - Dancing with the Devil: Psychedelics and Altered States
Chapter Sixteen - Witchcraft as Abject Transcendence
Chapter Seventeen - The Tragedy of The Love Witch
Epilogue - Disenchanted?
Acknowledgements
Works Cited
Film/Mediography
About the author:
Payton McCarty-Simas is an author and editor based in NYC whose work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Film Daze, Bright Lights Film Journal, and Horror Studies among others. They received their MA in cinema studies from Columbia University, focusing their research on horror film, psychedelic film, and conspiratorial thinking. That Very Witch is their second book.
Read the Interview with Payton for Night Tide Magazine, here: https://nighttidemag.com/2025/08/19/dangerous-women-payton-mccarty-simas-interview/
CONTENT WARNING
At the core of this research are horror witch movies in their historical context: this book will discuss themes of a sexual nature, violence, threat, suicide, drug use, racism.
Contains mature language and movie spoilers.
That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film
Spanning seven decades of cinematic representation, McCarty-Simas attentively examines a vast array of witch-centric films while providing rich and relevant historical context. Always holding true to its impassioned feminist mission and sharp sense of humor, the book nimbly leads the reader through swelling periods of countercultural hope and harsh retrenchments of conservative reaction. That Very Witch is required reading for horror fans, feminists, witch connoisseurs, and really, all devotees of countercultural cinema and history.
Johanna Isaacson, Author of Stepford Daughters: Weapons for Feminists in Contemporary Horror
McCarty-Simas leads you into the shadowy and intoxicating world of the witch— and the even darker history of America’s troubled relationship with her feminist influence.
Meg Hafdahl, author of The Science of Witchcraft
5 ⭐️ "In a sea of commodified witchcraft, Payton McCarty-Simas gives us something vital, urgent, and unflinchingly alive." Mo Moshaty for Night Tide Magazine
https://nighttidemag.com/2025/08/19/that-very-witch-book-review/
The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/movies/summer-horror-movies-nyc.html
"A Definitive Spell: Why That Very Witch Is Essential Reading for Horror Fans and Feminists Alike - That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film by Payton McCarty-Simas is a vital, thought-provoking, and exhilarating read that successfully argues for the witch’s place at the heart of the American zeitgeist. By demonstrating how this iconic figure has been burned, summoned, and sold again and again, McCarty-Simas provides an indispensable framework for understanding not just horror cinema, but the cultural forces that shape it. This book is a gift to horror fans, film scholars, feminists, and witch connoisseurs, a definitive text that is sure to be referenced and revered for years to come." Ginger Nuts of Horror 2025
CNN: “The Witches of… Politics?” Interview With Dana Bash, Inside Politics”
