Film

Season of the Witch

Name: Season of the Witch
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Action
Released: 2011
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman, Stephen Campbell Moore, Stephen Graham, Ulrich Thomsen

Medieval knights escort a suspected witch across plague-ravaged Europe in this 2011 action-fantasy. Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman anchor a film that swings wildly between earnest folk-horror and absurdist adventure. It's visually committed and genuinely strange—not quite good, but compulsively watchable for those who enjoy their movies slightly unmoored.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy grimy, muddy medieval adventures where a lapsed hero and his sardonic partner bicker their way through superstition and dread, and you don't mind a bit of cheesy monster-movie swagger.

Skip it if you want a serious, carefully grounded picture of the Middle Ages, since this one leans on B-movie fights, broad performances and a plot that rushes toward its climax.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk 95 minutes, mostly on the road, with plenty of action and not much patience for slow reflection; you can just settle in and let it roll.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Seventh Seal1957

Bergman's meditation on mortality and faith, where Death itself plays chess with a knight. Profound, austere, and the spiritual ancestor of every plague-and-faith film that followed. If you want the real thing, this is it.

But Black-and-white, slow, and demanding. It's a philosophical inquiry, not a narrative. Some find it glacial.

The Name of the Rose1986

Medieval monastery, mystery, and Sean Connery investigating heresy and murder during a plague-adjacent crisis. Richly detailed, intellectually robust, with genuine atmosphere and stakes. Everything Season of the Witch aspires toward.

But Nearly three hours. Dense with theology and period detail. The plot can feel overstuffed and sometimes the dialogue explains too much.

Army of Darkness1992

Ash fights the undead in a medieval castle with a chainsaw and comic timing. Cage clearly loved this film—the energy and the tone, the commitment to absurdist action. It knows exactly what it is and never apologizes.

But The humour is relentless and deeply goofy. If you want your horror played straight, this will wear you down fast.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Season of the Witch

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Dark Song2016

Both hinge on whether a ritual will work and whether the woman at its center is villain or victim. But this one asks you to care about her suffering rather than fear her.

Woman and occultist locked in a house performing an impossible ritual. Intimate, austere, and genuinely about faith and grief rather than spectacle. The witch-and-quest template inverted into something devastatingly human.

But Almost entirely two people in one room. No action, no external threat. If you need plot momentum, you'll be frustrated. Demands patience and emotional openness.

Valhalla Rising2010

Nicolas Winding Refn's hallucinogenic journey toward apocalypse. Visually stunning, formally daring, with the same medieval-crusade-into-darkness template but treated as genuine fever-dream cinema.

But Methodically paced, gratuitously violent, and narratively opaque. Long stretches where nothing happens except mood. Refn's style is an acquired taste.

The Witch2016

Paranoid New England horror grounded in historical detail and family disintegration. Slow-burn supernatural terror with a witch that feels genuinely unsettling. This is folk horror done with real craft.

But Deliberately paced. The payoff is existential rather than cathartic. Some find it frustratingly opaque and slow to move.

Black Death2010

Similar setting and premise—knights investigating the impossible during plague times. More grounded and genuinely dark than Season of the Witch, with real dread and ambiguity about what's real.

But Grittier and bleaker. The tone is unrelenting. It earns its darkness but doesn't offer much catharsis or fun.

The Wailing2016

South Korean mystery-horror about faith, doubt, and the impossible to know. Architecturally brilliant, morally complex, with the same central question: is the woman guilty? Stunning filmmaking throughout.

But Two hours forty minutes and doesn't explain itself. Non-linear and deliberately ambiguous. The pacing is glacial by design, which some find pretentious.

Pathfinder1987

Norwegian action-fantasy about Vikings and sorcerers. Genuinely strange, committed to its own mythology, with practical effects and stunt work that feels physical and real. A cult film that deserves wider attention.

But Dubbed in English (though a subtitled version exists). The plot is simple to the point of thinness. The pacing is odd and sometimes the tone wavers.

The Last Temptation of Christ1988

Scorsese's Dafoe as Jesus wrestling with doubt, mortality, and faith. Theologically audacious and visually striking. If you want medieval spirituality updated through European art cinema, this is the gateway.

But Notorious for blasphemy. Three hours. Deliberately challenging and often formally experimental. Many find it tedious or sacrilegious in equal measure.

The Decameron1971

Both use the Black Plague as framing device and both escape it through journeys—one physical, one narrative and erotic. But where Cage's film fears the mystery, Pasolini luxuriates in it.

Pasolini's adaptation: plague outside, carnality and storytelling inside. Bawdy, formally anarchic, visually stunning. Medieval setting and plague-as-backdrop, but the energy is anarchic and the tone is celebration rather than dread.

But Sexually explicit. Structurally digressive. Pasolini's deliberate vulgarity as a political statement. It will feel transgressive and some find it tedious or dated.