Witchery

Witchery

Year: 1988

Runtime: 95 mins

Language: English

Director: Fabrizio Laurenti

HorrorHorror

It can seduce your soul A student and her photographer boyfriend visit an island off of Massachusetts to research a hotel supposedly haunted by a witch.

Warning: spoilers below!

Haven’t seen Witchery yet? This summary contains major spoilers. Bookmark the page, watch the movie, and come back for the full breakdown. If you're ready, scroll on and relive the story!

Timeline & Setting – Witchery (1988)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Witchery (1988). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Location

Island off the coast of Massachusetts

The action unfolds on a remote island off the Massachusetts coast, where a derelict hotel sits abandoned. A storm strands the group, leaving them with no escape and heightening the sense of danger. Locals whisper that the hotel is haunted by a witch, whose ritual preys on greed, lust, and vulnerable victims.

🌊 Island 🏝️ Isolated setting 👻 Haunted hotel

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 08:25

Main Characters – Witchery (1988)

Meet the key characters of Witchery (1988), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Jane Brooks (Linda Blair)

Jane is the pregnant stepdaughter of Rose who becomes the Witch's vessel. She is possessed and confronts Leslie and Tommy, attempting to harm her brother. Her eventual act to throw herself from a window ends the hold on her, but she dies in the process.

🤰 Pregnant 👁️ Possessed 💔 Family 🕯️ Tragedy

Leslie (Leslie Cumming)

Leslie is a sexually repressed student visiting the island with her photographer boyfriend, Gary. She survives the night alongside Tommy, and learns that she has become pregnant as a result of the ceremony. She is the film's final survivor and the witness to the horror that unfolded.

🕊️ Survivor 🧭 Resilient 👀 Observant

Gary (David Hasselhoff)

Gary is Leslie's photographer boyfriend, researching the derelict hotel. He is killed during the island's terrifying events, becoming another casualty of the ritual.

🎥 Photographer 💔 Victim 🕯️ Murdered

Rose Brooks (Annie Ross)

Rose is the greedy matriarch who wants to buy and turn the hotel into a private club. She is burned alive as part of the witches' ritual.

💰 Greed 👑 Matriarch 🔥 Burned

Freddie Brooks (Robert Champagne)

Freddie is Rose's husband, part of the visiting family. He is killed during the island's horrors.

👨 Husband 💔 Victim 🕯️ Murdered

Tommy Brooks (Michael Manchester)

Tommy is the young son who witnesses the events and ultimately plays a crucial role with his tape message. He survives the night alongside Leslie.

👦 Son 🗣️ Witness 🎧 Recorder

Linda Sullivan (Catherine Hickland)

Linda is the young architect hired to estimate renovations. She is captured during sex and tortured and crucified by the witch.

👩 Architect 💋 Seduction 🕯️ Victim

Jerry Giordano (Rick Farnsworth)

Jerry is the real estate agent accompanying Linda. He is captured during intimacy and crucified as part of the ritual.

👔 Real estate 🕊️ Captured 🕯️ Tortured

Lady in Black (Hildegard Knef)

The Witch, once a famous movie star, who haunts the hotel and orchestrates the demonic ritual to prey on greed, lust, and vulnerability.

🖤 Witch 👗 Former star 🕯️ Ritualist

Satan (Ely Coughlin)

The demon who appears during the satanic ceremony, embodying the ritual's dark force and supernatural menace.

😈 Demon 🕯️ Ritualist 👁️ Dark force

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 08:25

Major Themes – Witchery (1988)

Explore the central themes of Witchery (1988), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

💰 Greed

Greed drives Rose and the family to buy and renovate the hotel for profit, triggering a deadly chain of events. Their pursuit of wealth blinds them to the danger inside. The storm's isolation magnifies the consequences of their scheming.

💋 Lust

Lust and sexual desire are weaponized, as Linda and Jerry are attacked during intimacy. The witch's ritual uses desire to fuel power and control. The cataclysmic violence reveals how sexual predation can destabilize everyone involved.

👁️ Possession

The Lady in Black seizes victims and uses possession to bend Jane to her will. The demonic influence intensifies as the ritual unfolds, pulling Leslie and Tommy into its orbit. Jane's struggles culminate in a fatal act that shifts the balance between life and death.

Last Updated: October 05, 2025 at 08:25

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Ritualistic horror siege movies like Witchery

Characters trapped and hunted by an ancient evil force enacting a deadly ritual.If you liked the ritualistic terror of Witchery, you'll find similar dread in these movies. This list features films where characters are trapped and hunted by an ancient evil, facing a series of gruesome, pre-destined deaths as part of a dark supernatural ritual. Explore more movies with a claustrophobic, ritualistic horror siege.

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Narrative Summary

The narrative follows a clear, fatalistic structure: characters become trapped, often by a storm or remote location, and discover they are pawns in a pre-ordained supernatural ritual. The plot unfolds as a sequence of targeted killings or possessions, each fulfilling a step in the ritual, leading to a confrontation with the ancient evil that typically ends in sacrifice or bleak survival.

Why These Movies?

Movies are grouped here by their shared core premise of a ritualistic siege. They feature high-intensity dread, a fast pacing of escalating supernatural events, a dark and oppressive tone, and a focus on characters being systematically eliminated according to the rules of a dark ceremony, creating a coherently terrifying experience.

Bleak folk horror movies similar to Witchery

Stories where ancient, malevolent folklore leads to visceral and hopeless endings.Fans of the bleak folk horror in Witchery will appreciate these selections. This collection features films centered on malevolent witchcraft and ancient rituals, characterized by grotesque imagery, high emotional weight, and overwhelmingly dark, hopeless conclusions. Discover more movies like Witchery that explore the terrifying side of folklore.

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Narrative Summary

These narratives typically involve outsiders intruding upon a place or community governed by ancient, malevolent beliefs. The conflict arises from the clash between rationality and primal superstition, with the folklore proving brutally real. The journey is one of escalating visceral horror and despair, culminating in an ending that confirms the power and cruelty of the folkloric evil, often through sacrifice or twisted rebirth.

Why These Movies?

This group is defined by a shared focus on the darkest aspects of folklore and witchcraft, a consistently dark and bleak tone, high emotional weight from themes of sacrifice and possession, and a propensity for grotesque, body-horror imagery. The similarity lies in the visceral, hopeless feeling evoked by encountering an unstoppable ancient evil.

Unlock the Full Story of Witchery

Don't stop at just watching — explore Witchery in full detail. From the complete plot summary and scene-by-scene timeline to character breakdowns, thematic analysis, and a deep dive into the ending — every page helps you truly understand what Witchery is all about. Plus, discover what's next after the movie.

Witchery Summary

Read a complete plot summary of Witchery, including all key story points, character arcs, and turning points. This in-depth recap is ideal for understanding the narrative structure or reviewing what happened in the movie.

Witchery Summary

Witchery Timeline

Track the full timeline of Witchery with every major event arranged chronologically. Perfect for decoding non-linear storytelling, flashbacks, or parallel narratives with a clear scene-by-scene breakdown.

Witchery Timeline

Witchery Spoiler-Free Summary

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Witchery Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Witchery

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