Movies Like Ancient Arts: Basic Witchcraft

If you liked Ancient Arts: Basic Witchcraft (1989), a movie directed by Jeff Scott, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
The City of the Dead (1960)
★ 6.5/10
In Whitewood, Massachusetts, a presumed witch places a curse on the town before she is burned at the stake. 300 years later, a college student arrives and checks into the mysterious Raven's Inn to research the town's…
2
Hansel and Gretel (1988)
★ 7.1/10
Hansel and Gretel tells the tale of two young children driven from home by their scolding mother. Losing their way in the dark forest they stumble upon the cottage of a kindly old woman. But is this kindly old woman…
3
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
★ 7.9/10
Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and…
4
The Witches (1990)
★ 7/10
While staying at a hotel in England with his grandmother, Helga, a young boy named Luke inadvertently spies on a convention of witches. The Grand High Witch reveals a plan to turn all children into mice via a magical…
5
Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
★ 7.1/10
The story of journalist Edward R. Murrow's stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts in the early 1950s.
6
Nightbooks (2021)
★ 6.1/10
Alex, a boy obsessed with scary stories, is trapped by a witch in her modern, magical New York City apartment. His original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping him safe as he desperately tries to find a way…
7
Hocus Pocus (1993)
★ 7.1/10
After 300 years of slumber, three sister witches are accidentally resurrected in Salem on Halloween night, and it is up to three kids and their newfound feline friend to put an end to the witches' reign of terror once…
8
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
★ 5.9/10
Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus illusionist and con-artist, is whisked from Kansas to the Land of Oz where the inhabitants assume he's the great wizard of prophecy, there to save Oz from the clutches of evil.
9
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
★ 6.6/10
Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid…
10
Teen Witch (1989)
★ 6.1/10
Louise is not very popular at her highschool. Then she learns that she's descended from the witches of Salem and has inherited their powers. At first she uses them to get back at the girls and teachers who teased her…
11
Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)
★ 6.7/10
A girl, sent by her parents to live with her two eccentric aunts, finds out on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch.
12
The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)
★ 6.1/10
Balthazar Blake is a master sorcerer in modern-day Manhattan trying to defend the city from his arch-nemesis, Maxim Horvath. Balthazar can't do it alone, so he recruits Dave Stutler, a seemingly average guy who…
13
Ella Enchanted (2004)
★ 6.5/10
Ella lives in a magical world in which each child, at the moment of their birth, is given a virtuous "gift" from a fairy godmother. Ella's so-called gift, however, is obedience. This birthright proves itself to be…
14
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
★ 6.6/10
Gillian Holroyd, a modern-day witch, becomes smitten with her handsome upstairs neighbor, Shep Henderson. Using her magical powers, she casts a love spell on him, only to face unexpected complications when genuine…
15
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
★ 7.7/10
Returning for his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry is stunned to find that his warnings about the return of Lord Voldemort have been ignored. Left with no choice, Harry takes matters into his own hands, training a small…
16
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
★ 7.6/10
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss…
17
Wicked (2024)
★ 6.9/10
In the land of Oz, ostracized and misunderstood green-skinned Elphaba is forced to share a room with the popular aristocrat Glinda at Shiz University, and the two's unlikely friendship is tested as they begin to…
18
Wicked: For Good (2025)
★ 6.6/10
As an angry mob rises against the Wicked Witch, Glinda and Elphaba must unite one last time with honesty and empathy to fulfill their shared destiny and change the fate of Oz forever.
19
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
★ 6.5/10
The powers of good are pitted against the forces of evil as the Duc de Richelieu wrestles with the charming but deadly Satanist, Mocata, for the soul of his friend. Mocata has the knowledge and the power to summon the…
20
Magic Camp (2020)
★ 6.8/10
Andy, at the urging of his former mentor and Magic Camp owner Roy Preston, returns to the camp of his youth hoping to reignite his career. Instead, he finds inspiration in his ragtag bunch of rookie magicians.