The Witches of Eastwick (1987)

Movie · 1987 · Comedy, Fantasy, Horror · 1h 58m · R · English

Curator score: 4.0/10 (196.3K ratings)

Three beautiful women. One lucky devil.

Overview

Three single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.

Ratings

Director

George Miller

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures, The Guber-Peters Company

Cast

Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Veronica Cartwright, Richard Jenkins, Keith Jochim, Carel Struycken, Helen Lloyd Breed, Caroline Struzik, Michele Sincavage, Nicol Sincavage, Heather Coleman, Carolyn Ditmars, Cynthia Ditmars, Christine Ditmars, Craig Burket, Abraham Mishkind, Christopher Verrette, Becca Lish

Curator Review

Verdict

A glossy, mischievous adult fantasy with a wicked sense of humor and a surprisingly nasty streak. It’s best when it leans into the absurd chemistry between the three leads and Jack Nicholson’s unhinged charm, even if the tonal blend of satire, sex comedy, and horror can feel uneven.

Best for

  • fans of offbeat 1980s studio fantasy
  • viewers who like camp with a dark edge
  • people interested in star-driven ensemble comedies
  • audiences open to horny, surreal supernatural stories

Skip if

  • you want a straight horror movie
  • you dislike broad 1980s comedy and dated sexual politics
  • you prefer subtle performances over scenery-chewing
  • you need a tightly controlled tone

Overview

The Witches of Eastwick is a very specific kind of Hollywood oddity: expensive, starry, and gleefully unhinged. George Miller pushes the material toward cartoonish excess, turning a small-town seduction story into a fever dream of lust, power, and magical retaliation. The result is uneven, but rarely dull.

Worth noting

What makes it work is the trio at the center. Cher, Susan Sarandon, and Michelle Pfeiffer give the film real voltage, and Nicholson leans all the way into grotesque comic menace. The movie has the feel of an adult fairy tale that keeps mutating into something stranger and meaner, with a score and visual style that help sell the absurdity.

Bottom line

It’s not a polished classic so much as a highly watchable artifact of a moment when mainstream films were willing to be weird, sexy, and a little bit monstrous. If that combination sounds appealing, it’s an easy recommendation. If you want tonal discipline, it may feel like chaos in a velvet blazer.

Top Letterboxd reviews

‮🐌‬ (3.5★) · 4485 likes

imagine praying to god every night to send the perfect man and he sends you jack nicholson

Karsten (3.5★) · 3643 likes

how one penis can change a small town

sarah · 3316 likes

My [49M] girlfriends [28F] [39F] [40F] have unionized.

charlotte (3.5★) · 2815 likes

jack nicholson really says, “i like pussy after lunch” not ONE HOUR into this film

kidcoppola (4★) · 2660 likes

Michelle Pfeiffer in this movie may be the most attractive a woman has ever looked.

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Topics

1980s, supernatural comedy, dark fantasy, camp, satire, body horror, female ensemble, seduction, small-town, adult fairy tale

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