‘They Were Witches’ (2025)

A folk horror feature, ‘They Were Witches’ centers on Mia (Tania Niebla) a radio show host delving deep into the paranormal and witchcraft. The film picks up when Mia’s personal life takes a turn and she embarks on a trip. En route to a therapy session, she encounters a group of people at a roadside hotel. Things quickly escalate as Mia meets Sara (Karina Lechuga) a mysterious woman with ulterior motives.

The film opens on an unnamed woman terrorised by Mikel (Sebastián Ladrón de Guevara). As she is chased through the woods and eventually captured, Mikel ties her to a chair and suffocates her, proceeding to slit her throat and ‘capture her breath’ in a glass jar. Teeming with intrigue, the opening salvo promises a world rich in familiar and unfamiliar lore as the psychopathic Mikel carries out a brutal ritual for reasons yet unknown.

Jumping then to Mia, her world as a ‘witchy’ radio show host leaves much to be desired as her ratings are low and her personal life collapses, as she confronts her boyfriend about him having cheated on her with her sister. Distraught, Mia sets out on a trip that takes her to a hotel, that initially refuses her service due to a power outage.

Meeting Sara at the front desk, Mia is convinced to stay, with the receptionist reluctantly admitting Sara, noting to Mia afterwards that her kind are not welcome. Mounting in mystery with a strong undercurrent of darkness, Mia rooms with Sara and meets the group that Sara’s with – four 20-somethings.

The group drink and relax, with Sara and Mia discussing Mia’s show, with Sara showing particular interest in the ideas Mia has covered relating to witchcraft. A little heavy handed with exposition, it is revealed that Sara is familiar with local legends and knows of a ritual where harvesting the breath of orphans can aid in summoning a witch. Commonly associated with or confused for ‘The Weeping Woman,’ the witch’s spirit is summoned for her power and protection, making the summoner a witch as well.

Mia, familiar with the lore is frightened yet remains at the hotel as she is drawn to the place for unknown reasons. Re-emerging, Mikel begins a spree of murders as the group of young people that Sara has gathered turn out to be orphans. A little predictable and with the film’s budget making itself very apparent, the group of people are picked off one by one as the story leads into the highly anticipated summoning of the witch. In league with Mikel, Sara is revealed to be carrying out the murders in order to summon the witch.

With Sara recognising that Mia has a connection to the place as well, but deeming her unworthy of service to the witch, she carries out the ritual and summons the spirit. Apparently possessed and imbued with the witch’s powers, she slashes Mia’s throat, only for the spirit to kill her in retaliation. The now lifeless Mia resurrects and is tied to the spirit.

Killing Mikel, Mia makes her way back to her car to call a witch that had been on her show who had forewarned her of her future. Admitting that her warning was correct Mia makes her way to the withc for guidance.

Imagining a new world with dark practices, writer and director Alejandro G. Alegre paints a bleak image of the brutal and sacrificial nature of sorcery. Developing new ideas paired with a few familiar concepts, ‘They Were Witches’ summons a dreadful and alarming look at the cost of power. Working in its favour, the out of sight rural setting allows for the film to feel more grounded.

Without too many bombastic exhibitions of the supernatural, the somewhat muted paranormal activity makes for a more realistic experience, allowing for the possibility that Sara and Mikel are two people blinded by folklore and fairytales, using that as an excuse to act on their sadistic impulses.

With Lechuga’s Sara having made up her mind a long time ago, the film slowly unfolds to reveal her sinister plans to gather and eliminate unwitting individuals, showcasing a personality beyond reproach, willing to do anything in order to gain supernatural power. Sinister and menacing, Lechuga delivers a strong performance as someone who had sold their soul long ago in exchange for an opportunity to become a witch.

Conversely Niebla’s Mia plays a more subdued yet in-the-know character that is for the most part in disbelief of what unfolds before her. Only revealed at the end, that Mia was forewarned about the events, Niebla plays a terrified yet capable individual who tracks her way to a known fate – unwillingly becoming a witch.

An atmospheric fable of doomed souls combined with a touch of gore and slasher tones, ‘They Were Witches’ has many elements that compound to create for a foreboding tale of terror. Not relying on outrageous scares and on overtly horrifying onslaught, the film ruminates more on the passing horrors quietly and with dread.

Not an excessive horror-fest inundated with outright grisliness, the movie ebbs and flows as the story demands, quietly crawling towards the inevitable, leaving the inescapable fate to be accepted. Perhaps a little too slow and weary for some, ‘They Were Witches’ has enough to keep one spellbound to the screen.

Score: 3/4