The Witches (2020)

The Witches is a 1990 dark fantasy comedy horror film directed by Nicolas Roeg from a screenplay by Allan Scott, based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film stars Anjelica Huston and Mai Zetterling. The plot features evil witches who masquerade as ordinary women and follows a boy and his grandmother, who must find a way to foil their plans of turning children into mice. It is the last film project executive producer Jim Henson worked on before his death, with Jim Henson Productions co-producing the film and Jim Henson's Creature Shop designing and building the prosthetics for the witches and animatronic rats and mice that were used interchangeably with real mice. Filming took place in Norway and England from April to August 1988. The film's release was delayed following the dissolution of its theatrical distributor Lorimar Film Entertainment. The Witches was theatrically released in the United Kingdom on May 25, 1990, and in the United States on August 24, by Warner Bros. Although Dahl disliked the film and criticized the ending, which differed from the source material, The Witches received positive reviews from critics and developed a cult following over the years.