8. The Witches' Spell
There is perhaps no moment in cinema history more absurdly comical than John Cleese claiming to have been turned into a newt. The claim that, like the common cold, a curse is a temporary condition one can "get better" from is a moment of true craftsmanship. Not all spells are that easy to shake. In 1990's film The Witches, Anjelica Houston's Grand High Witch leads a congregation of witches-in-women's clothing who are hellbent on eliminating human children, as they emit a foul stench which they believe only witches can smell. Aside from that fallacy, because of course everyone knows how horrible children reek, the titular villains based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name have a pretty solid plan put together: using a potion to turn children into mice. The first time we see this, a boy named Bruno is lured into the heart of the covenant with promise of chocolate cake. (Incidentally, this is the same delicacy that leads to Bruce Bogtrotter's downfall in Matilda, which makes me wonder if Dahl had some racial prejudice against devil's food.) He's fed the concoction and transforms into a rat. Mildly scary, sure. But when Bruno's pal Luke is discovered by the witches, he is hunted down like that idiot from Twilight at an idiot convention and is forced like Socrates to drink at his own peril. Luke, too, turns into a mouse and has to scurry away through the barrage of stomping feet to avoid a horrible and squishy death.