Like movies that feature witches, there are a lot of films that have voodoo as a major subplot to the story. Most of the films are the dark side of voodoo for more theatrical effect. These are some films that feature voodoo in their horror stories.
White Zombie (1932)
A pre-code Bela Lugosi feature about a couple wanting to be married overseas in Haiti are offered accommodations in a luxury mansion by a wealthy man, Charles Beaumont. Beaumont becomes obsessed with the young bride and enlists aid from a local Haitian voodoo master with a legion of zombies to mesmerize her to become Beaumont’s bride. This is considered to be the first feature-length zombie movie. Furthermore, the local Haitian voodoo master is called Murder Legendre and was played by Bela Lugosi.
Screenshot of White Zombie (1932) Murder Legendre placing a curse for Charles Beaumont.
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
An anthology made-for-TV film from the 1970s. The three films focus on a woman in peril with two films using voodoo as a main plot point. The stories are named after the lead characters, “Julie”, “Millicent & Therese”, and “Amelia”, which were all played by Karen Black. Without giving the twists away, the story of “Millicent & Therese” and “Amelia” uses voodoo and poppet dolls for the terror.
Screenshot of Trilogy of Terror (1975) Amelia receives a poppet amulet doll from an acquaintance.
Sugar Hill (1974)
A blaxploitation film about Diana “Sugar” Hill a photographer dating the nightclub owner whose murdered by the mob when he refused to sell his club. She seeks help from a former voodoo queen to avenge her boyfriend’s death by summoning the voodoo lord of the dead, Baron Samedi, who enlists his army of zombies. The zombies have an alien-like appearance with silver balls attached to their eyes and painted muscle tone on top of the grey paint and cobwebs to their bodies.
Screenshot of Sugar Hill (1974)
Skeleton Key (2005)
The theme of the film is if you believe in the magic it will become true. A female hospice nurse moves to an old plantation house to take care of a man who suffered a stroke. The wife explains where she found her husband in a secret room with religious items and the room belonged to two servants murdered for practicing voodoo. She gives the nurse a skeleton key afterwards. The film is mellow and dramatic but the tale of the haunting and how the magic in the story works was interesting to me.
Screenshot of The Skeleton Key (2008)
Tales from the Hood (1995)
This anthology horror film has a similar format to predecessor films like Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt three thugs break into a funeral house where a funeral director tells them three horror-based stories with themes of domestic violence, cultural reparations, police violence, and moral responsibility. The voodoo story is called Doll’s Revenge which uses poppet dolls against a heartless racist politician running for office who moves his headquarters into a former plantation house. The story has a similar story plot to the voodoo story with Trilogy of Terror from the 70’s.
Screenshot of Tales from the Hood (1995) of the story “Rogue Cop Revelation”
Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
Inspired by the story of Clairvius Narcisse who believed he was turned into a zombie to work as a slave in Haiti. The film is about an anthropologist who travels to Haiti after hearing rumours about a drug used in Haitian Vodou to create zombies to study the drug to turn it into a strong anesthetic. The story turns into an investigation of political upheavals and black magic. This is a good thriller that discusses classism in 1980s Haiti and uses voodoo in the film with more intelligence and sophistication.
Screenshot of The Serpent and The Rainbow (1988)
I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
A Canadian nurse travels to Haiti to tend to along British woman, wife of a plantation owner, from a bizarre condition but becomes smitten with the husband of the British woman and drawn into the world of voodoo. The film mostly focuses on the relationship of the nurse and husband who is slowly becoming an alcoholic from the stress of the unknown condition and death. The interesting glimpse of voodoo in the late 1930s-1940s appearance shows some rituals and practices.
Screenshot of I Walked With A Zombie (1943). Jessica is walking in a trance through the field with Nurse Betsy.
Angel Heart (1987)
This film is based on the neo-noir psychological horror novel William Hjortsberg’s 1978 novel Falling Angel. A private eye is hired to search for a man hiding away from a wealthy man, Louis Cyphre, in the countryside of the 1950s Southern states only to find that his wife has been protecting him with voodoo magic. It’s a slow-burn film that has many twists and MacGuffins until the reveal. It’s also a bit gory with a lot of blood.
Screenshot of Angel Heart (1987). Detective Harry Angel is at a meeting with Louis Cyphre.
Princess and the Frog (2009)
A Disney film was an adaptation of “The Frog Prince” by the Brothers Grimm to a Disneyfied version during the tale end of the Disney Renaissance. The 2D animated film takes place in 1920s New Orleans, America of a hard-working waitress who becomes accidentally cursed with voodoo magic when she is turned into a frog. With another frog assisting her way to get back to her normal self, they hop through the bayou to the big city before Mardi Gras is over and the curse is permanent. This film was the first African-American Disney princess on-screen. The depictions of 1920s Louisana Voodoo are Disneyfied for a general audience and animated with a lot of colours.
Screenshot of Disney’s Princess and the Frog (2009). Tiana is conversing with Prince Naveen in frog form.
Child’s Play (1988)
It’s Christmas time and the newest toy that hit the shelves is sold out. It’s a Good Guy doll that comes with their own TV show, accessories and non-stop campaign because it’s capitalism at work. But a mother who wants to impress her son buys a back alley doll from some guy. It turns out the doll is alive and after the little boy because of a quirk in a voodoo spell. When you watch the film without knowing that the doll is possessed, it has a slow burn to the horror.
Screenshot of Child’s Play (1988) Andy receives the Good Guy Doll, Chucky
Sin You Sinners (1963)
An independent film horror of a cursed amulet necklace that keeps an aging exotic dancer young and beautiful with a powerful influence over people. But her daughter discovers her secret and tries to take the amulet away from her mother. Furthermore, the club owner and a shady woman plot to steal the necklace for its power which sets off a chain of murders. It’s one of those almost under-an-hour horror movies from the 1960s that’s more of a weird twisted morality tale that can go either way.
Screenshot of Sin You Sinners (1963)
The Believers (1987)
A very dramatic thriller horror film from the early 80s about a psychologist a recently widowed single father who moves to New York City for a fresh start working as a police psychologist for the NYPD. A frantic cop tells the psychologist that an evil cult committing murders for ceremonies. This film has plenty of depictions of brujería throughout the film.
Screenshot of The Believers (1987)
Eve’s Bayou (1997)
A young girl born with the gift of foresight catches her father having an affair in a 1930s Creole-American community. But with growing frustration with the situation, Eve meets with a fortune-teller to curse her father only to find out that she can’t undo what she started. Even though the film has magical elements, it’s more of a drama of consequences than fantasy.
Screenshot from Eve’s Bayou (1997) Eve walking away from the fortune-teller in the background.
House of the Witchdoctor (2013)
An indie horror with a name that reveals too much about the plot twist. A group of friends hang out in an empty house owned by one of them for a winter weekend. But some criminals break in to terrorize the group. The film has some directorial choices of camera angles that I am not happy with; but, for a gory horror flick, the story isn’t too convoluted. Also, some themes can be seen as vulgar, nonetheless, it’s available on Tubi.
Under The Moonlight 
Like movies that feature witches, there are a lot of films that have voodoo as a major subplot to the story. Most of the films are the dark side of voodoo for more theatrical effect. These are some films that feature voodoo in their horror stories.
White Zombie (1932)
A pre-code Bela Lugosi feature about a couple wanting to be married overseas in Haiti are offered accommodations in a luxury mansion by a wealthy man, Charles Beaumont. Beaumont becomes obsessed with the young bride and enlists aid from a local Haitian voodoo master with a legion of zombies to mesmerize her to become Beaumont’s bride. This is considered to be the first feature-length zombie movie. Furthermore, the local Haitian voodoo master is called Murder Legendre and was played by Bela Lugosi.
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
An anthology made-for-TV film from the 1970s. The three films focus on a woman in peril with two films using voodoo as a main plot point. The stories are named after the lead characters, “Julie”, “Millicent & Therese”, and “Amelia”, which were all played by Karen Black. Without giving the twists away, the story of “Millicent & Therese” and “Amelia” uses voodoo and poppet dolls for the terror.
Sugar Hill (1974)
A blaxploitation film about Diana “Sugar” Hill a photographer dating the nightclub owner whose murdered by the mob when he refused to sell his club. She seeks help from a former voodoo queen to avenge her boyfriend’s death by summoning the voodoo lord of the dead, Baron Samedi, who enlists his army of zombies. The zombies have an alien-like appearance with silver balls attached to their eyes and painted muscle tone on top of the grey paint and cobwebs to their bodies.
Skeleton Key (2005)
The theme of the film is if you believe in the magic it will become true. A female hospice nurse moves to an old plantation house to take care of a man who suffered a stroke. The wife explains where she found her husband in a secret room with religious items and the room belonged to two servants murdered for practicing voodoo. She gives the nurse a skeleton key afterwards. The film is mellow and dramatic but the tale of the haunting and how the magic in the story works was interesting to me.
Tales from the Hood (1995)
This anthology horror film has a similar format to predecessor films like Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt three thugs break into a funeral house where a funeral director tells them three horror-based stories with themes of domestic violence, cultural reparations, police violence, and moral responsibility. The voodoo story is called Doll’s Revenge which uses poppet dolls against a heartless racist politician running for office who moves his headquarters into a former plantation house. The story has a similar story plot to the voodoo story with Trilogy of Terror from the 70’s.
Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
Inspired by the story of Clairvius Narcisse who believed he was turned into a zombie to work as a slave in Haiti. The film is about an anthropologist who travels to Haiti after hearing rumours about a drug used in Haitian Vodou to create zombies to study the drug to turn it into a strong anesthetic. The story turns into an investigation of political upheavals and black magic. This is a good thriller that discusses classism in 1980s Haiti and uses voodoo in the film with more intelligence and sophistication.
I Walked With A Zombie (1943)
A Canadian nurse travels to Haiti to tend to along British woman, wife of a plantation owner, from a bizarre condition but becomes smitten with the husband of the British woman and drawn into the world of voodoo. The film mostly focuses on the relationship of the nurse and husband who is slowly becoming an alcoholic from the stress of the unknown condition and death. The interesting glimpse of voodoo in the late 1930s-1940s appearance shows some rituals and practices.
Angel Heart (1987)
This film is based on the neo-noir psychological horror novel William Hjortsberg’s 1978 novel Falling Angel. A private eye is hired to search for a man hiding away from a wealthy man, Louis Cyphre, in the countryside of the 1950s Southern states only to find that his wife has been protecting him with voodoo magic. It’s a slow-burn film that has many twists and MacGuffins until the reveal. It’s also a bit gory with a lot of blood.
Princess and the Frog (2009)
A Disney film was an adaptation of “The Frog Prince” by the Brothers Grimm to a Disneyfied version during the tale end of the Disney Renaissance. The 2D animated film takes place in 1920s New Orleans, America of a hard-working waitress who becomes accidentally cursed with voodoo magic when she is turned into a frog. With another frog assisting her way to get back to her normal self, they hop through the bayou to the big city before Mardi Gras is over and the curse is permanent. This film was the first African-American Disney princess on-screen. The depictions of 1920s Louisana Voodoo are Disneyfied for a general audience and animated with a lot of colours.
Child’s Play (1988)
It’s Christmas time and the newest toy that hit the shelves is sold out. It’s a Good Guy doll that comes with their own TV show, accessories and non-stop campaign because it’s capitalism at work. But a mother who wants to impress her son buys a back alley doll from some guy. It turns out the doll is alive and after the little boy because of a quirk in a voodoo spell. When you watch the film without knowing that the doll is possessed, it has a slow burn to the horror.
Sin You Sinners (1963)
An independent film horror of a cursed amulet necklace that keeps an aging exotic dancer young and beautiful with a powerful influence over people. But her daughter discovers her secret and tries to take the amulet away from her mother. Furthermore, the club owner and a shady woman plot to steal the necklace for its power which sets off a chain of murders. It’s one of those almost under-an-hour horror movies from the 1960s that’s more of a weird twisted morality tale that can go either way.
The Believers (1987)
A very dramatic thriller horror film from the early 80s about a psychologist a recently widowed single father who moves to New York City for a fresh start working as a police psychologist for the NYPD. A frantic cop tells the psychologist that an evil cult committing murders for ceremonies. This film has plenty of depictions of brujería throughout the film.
Eve’s Bayou (1997)
A young girl born with the gift of foresight catches her father having an affair in a 1930s Creole-American community. But with growing frustration with the situation, Eve meets with a fortune-teller to curse her father only to find out that she can’t undo what she started. Even though the film has magical elements, it’s more of a drama of consequences than fantasy.
House of the Witchdoctor (2013)
An indie horror with a name that reveals too much about the plot twist. A group of friends hang out in an empty house owned by one of them for a winter weekend. But some criminals break in to terrorize the group. The film has some directorial choices of camera angles that I am not happy with; but, for a gory horror flick, the story isn’t too convoluted. Also, some themes can be seen as vulgar, nonetheless, it’s available on Tubi.
Banner credit: Image of Flat lay voodoo doll and esoteric items arrangement by Freepik
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