The script to The Last Witch Hunter has no idea what to do with witches, and so devotes considerable space to awkward world-building and clumsy exposition as characters relate details and stories that everybody involved in the conversation must already know. As a result, it is very hard to figure out how exactly witches are supposed to work as a generic antagonist in a “secret war” film like this. The archetypal witch is more about appearance than “rules.” Indeed, The Last Witch Hunter has a bit of fun with the familiar associations one witch jokes that her best friend is a “cat person”, while complaining about the stereotype of green skin and pointy hats. There is no steak through the heart, no garlic there is no crucifix or silver bullet. There are a number of logical and organic limitations and expectations that come with a horror movie based around a vampire or a werewolf or a zombie.
Although the finer details change from film to film, most movie fans are roughly familiar with the “rules” for vampires and werewolves and zombies. On a level of pure plot, witches lack the elegant simplicity of the undead. The Last Witch Hunter suggests a number of possible reasons why witches never caught on with the same fervour as zombies or other ghouls. While there are any number of memorable films about witches – The Witches or The Witches of Eastwick come to mind – they are not as ubiquitous as their monstrous kin. Witches are something of an underrated horror movie monster, lacking the matinee appeal of vampires or werewolves. Witches seem to be going through something of a pop cultural renaissance with films like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and television shows like American Horror Story: Coven.
A certain amount of the movie’s problems might be inherited from the premise.
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