#GuiltyPleasureConfessionals: ‘Teen Witch’ Nostalgia

If you followed my review (or if you didn’t, you’re about to find out now) of American Horror Story: Apocalypse, you might have guessed that witches are my favorite type of “monster.” (And yes, Coven is my favorite season.) Since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated with the world of magic, and that hasn’t changed one bit. And as a college instructor, it has allowed me to incorporate talking about monsters, villains, heroes, and my love of witches into my classroom and course material. Just wish I could dress like the professors at Hogwarts when I teach. Now, I’m sure that as my fellow nerds you’re sitting there wondering why I would be talking about this as my guilty pleasure confessional because in our wonderful and all-inclusive nerd cultural nothing should be taboo. And I wholeheartedly agree with that, but I also…well, I’m a grown Black man who fans out over witches, and I’m going to tell you about a movie I love that’s about a white teenage girl witch. With that out in the open, let me tell you about this movie, and why I find myself thinking of it. So, the name of the movie is Teen Witch, and it came out in 1989. Since then, like many “bad” 80s movies, it has gained cult classic status. For me, part of that status comes from the obvious 80s set up of the movie: from the clothes to the random singing and dancing along that everyone just knows how to do and an overall message that screams coming-of-age teen movie.

Giving you the broad strokes, like most 80s teen movies (th…