Ceris' 31 Days of Horror Challenge: Day 26 - The Witches

So this is a film I have seen before and I’m not going to lie it’s a film that still freaks me out even at the age of 27! I think it’s the story of poor Erica at the start of the film.

Helga is telling her grandson Luke about witches and Erica who was kidnapped by a witch as she didn’t know what to look for to spot a witch and the poor girl ends up trapped in the photograph her father painted. Luke’s parents go off for the night but sadly die in a car crash so it’s Luke and Helga against the world!

Luke and Helga go to England to stay and Luke has an encounter with a witch who tries to give him a snake - I mean who in their right mind gives a kid a snake ‘they find on their walk’ - but Luke spots the tell tale signs of purple eyes and gloves to hide her creepy hands! After Helga becomes unwell, the doctor tells them to take a holiday by the sea which is where everything starts to go wrong!

When they arrive at the hotel, there is a convention for the Society For The Protection Of Cruelty To Children happening at the same time - however the members seem somewhat dodgy! After nearly being kicked out for having his pet mice with him, Helga notices some strange goings on with her afternoon tea, and recognises the face of the head of the society but can’t think from where. Luke takes his mice Mary and Williams for a tour of the hotel and ends up in the ballroom. While hiding behind a screen, the society come together to meet and Luke is unable to leave before the door is locked and he sees the society is in fact a room full of witches including the Grand High Witch - whose face alone is enough to give you nightmares!

The Grand High Witch tells them all that they aren’t very good at getting rid of children and that they need to open sweet shops around England to entice the children and then reveals her magic potion that will turn children into mice! She demonstrates the power of the potion by feeding it to Bruno who subsequently turns into a mouse - which is an interesting process. The witches go to leave the meeting but one of them smells a child and after a group search, Luke is discovered. He is chased through the hotel and rescues a baby the Grand High Witch tries to push off a cliff edge before getting back to his room. Sadly his grandma is asleep as she is recovering and Luke is captured by the witches and turned into a mouse.

Luke escapes being trodden on and is reunited with Bruno - who only discovers he is a mouse when Luke points it out! They decide to try and get to Helga, so they make their way through the hotel - with Bruno complaining the whole time about how exercise is bad for him! They manage to get into a lift but Bruno gets his tail stuck in the door! They get the Helga but can’t open the door - well obvs they are mice - but luckily the maid who is scared of mice causes a scene and Helga opens the door.

After explaining the situation and managing to calm Helga down. He also manages to convince her to lower him into the Grand High Witches room to steal a bottle of the potion so people will believe him. After a run in with a cat - I am petrified of cats so I 100% know how much he is shitting himself, especially now he is a mouse - he manages to get into the room. He is still getting used to being a mouse as he manages to get trapped under a book containing the bottles of magic potion. Luke grabs a bottle, escapes the room and gets back to Helga. Helga tries to take Bruno back to his parents but funnily enough they think she is an old loony and screams at her to leave them alone even when Bruno - who’s eating again - tells them it’s him.

On the way back to the room Helga runs into the witches on their way to the banquet and has a stare off with The Grand High Witch. The screaming maid - who thankfully has stoped screaming - goes into room 208 to turn down the bed and finds the bottles of potion which she mistakes for perfume and dabs it on her neck and décolletage- I think this will end badly!

Helga drops Luke off in the kitchen to put the potion in the witches food which he does successfully and manages to escape by crawling up the head chef’s leg and causing a commotion. The chef preparing the soup for the witches - who also happens to be a witch herself - tastes the soup after Luke has dropped the potion in it - any guesses what will happen? Also remember the maid who used the potion as perfume - she starts growing hair on her neck much to the disgust of Mr Bean who is the owner of the hotel and also her lover!

The witch chef starts squeaking - I think we know what will happen. Mr Jenkins is a self entitled prick who really annoys me! The chef turns into a mouse and tries to warn the other witches, but mistaking her for a child she is stamped on and killed by the Grand High Witch. Luke and Helga’s timing is utter perfection and Luke is is in the dustpan and brush at 8.15pm when Helga causes a distraction. All of the witches are eating the soup, except for Miss Irvine - the Grand High Witches assistant - who has been banished to her room and is in a strop.

Seeing Bruno’s father about the eat the poisoned soup, Helga manages to convince him that Bruno is a mouse - to be fair a room full of women turning into mice certainly helps her case! To be fair the Grand High Witch is by far the ugliest one of the lot! After Mr Stringer destroys the Grand High Mouse, Bruno is returned to his mum and dad who are quite clearly still in shock! With the exterminators called and everyone leaving the hotel, everyone seems to have forgotten one witch escaped the chaos.

Back at their house, Helga receives a trunk full of money and the names of every witch in America that Luke saw in the Grand High Witches room and they plan to go and kill all the witches in America. Miss Irving - the non mouse witch arrives at the house and casts a spell on Luke - but it’s okay it turns out she has decided to become a good witch and turns Luke back into a human and returns his glasses and William and Mary! As they wave goodbye, Luke shouts to her to not forget Bruno!

I do enjoy this film but it scared me when I was younger! I’d happily watch this film again!

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