That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film

That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film by Payton McCarty-Simas

 With a book launch event at Fantasia to follow shortly after, That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film, a new nonfiction book exploring the evolution of witches in horror. 

That Very Witch will be published on 22nd July, 2025, from Luna Press.

Researched over the course of seven years, That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film 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?

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REVIEWS:

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

A decadently comprehensive look at the witch’s influence in cinema. Fascinating, engrossing and feminist as hell.”

Meg Hafdahl, author of The Science of Witchcraft

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.

Further Reading

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