That Very Witch

That Very Witch explores the cyclical rise and fall of the cinematic witch in American culture and her relationship to feminist movements over time.

"A decadently comprehensive look at the witch's influence in cinema. Fascinating, engrossing and feminist as hell." --Meg Hafdahl, author of The Science of Witchcraft

Through historical analysis and dozens of case studies, Payton McCarty-Simas demonstrates how the cinematic witch's evolution across decades reflects major shifts in how feminism is perceived politically and interpreted (counter-)culturally in America. From Mia Farrow to the Moral Majority, from the Satanic Panic to Riot Grrrl, from #MeToo to the 2024 election, the witch can be found at the heart of the zeitgeist. What can we learn from her presence?

Payton McCarty-Simas is an author, programmer, film critic, and video artist with a focus on horror and genre film. Their writing has been featured in The Hollywood Reporter, Film Daze, and The Brooklyn Rail among others, as well as spotlighted in The New York Times, CNN, and RogerEbert.com. Her short films and screenplays have been featured in several film festivals as well as shown at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She is also the author of two books of nonfiction and film criticism, One Step Short of Crazy: National Treasure and the Landscape of American Conspiracy Culture (2024) and That Very Witch: Fear, Feminism, and the American Witch Film (2025).  Payton holds a Masters in Film and Media Studies from Columbia University and is a member of the Online Association of Female Film Critics and GALECA.