Movies That Mention Hoodoo

[KhonsuMes]

Well, Dang.

I've never seen The Skeleton Key, but will soon!

Thanks for the great info about it, everyone.

[papagee]

Been thinking about "The Skeleton Key," Miss Cat. How about a "skeleton key" lucky mojo page? If they didn't follow through, I say go ahead and write about all the elements of the movie that were included based on your consultations.

On the flip side, you could also mention the elements that are not accurate.

Just a thought, but go ahead --- toot your own horn!

PapaGee

[angelael]

"The United States of Hoodoo" film is available now as an Amazon Instant Video.

[patientlywaiting]

I second what papagee said, I just watched The Skeleton Key and it's very good!

[Sarafina]

Been thinking about this, Miss Cat. How about a "skeleton key" lucky mojo page? If they didn't follow through, I say go ahead and write about all the elements of the movie that were included based on your consultations.

On the flip side, you could also mention the elements that are not accurate.

Just a thought, but go ahead --- toot your own horn!

PapaGee

Excellent point. you should definitely consider this Miss Cat

[dorothybaez]

I agree. My mom says, "If you don't honk your own horn, nobody else is going to do it for you."

[morgana05]

The Skeleton Key happens to be one of my favorite movies, and I've recently started studying hoodoo and would've had no idea what to look for if I had not read through all of these comments. I also had no idea that Cat worked on the movie. That's amazing to hear, even if you didn't get the credit you deserved.

[catherineyronwode]

Hi, Abigail Rose,

I watched the trailer and Jessabelle and Voodoo Man is not about hoodoo at all. It is a horror movie about white people enduring some sort of curse from a spirit. There are very brief intercuts of what appear to be black people performing a Voodoo ceremony (or being threatening; it is almost impossible to tell, even on a frame-by-frame viewing). The plot is fairly tyical of Anglo-American approaches to narratives of spiritual and locational curses. If it had been about hoodoo, we would have expected black people to be at the narrative center -- this movie is about white people and their cultural mores.

By the way, it is my experience that most movies filmed by white directors in which hoodoo is alluded to or mentioned tend to present hoodoo in one of three ways:

1) Hoodoo is presented as the Haitian religion of Voodoo.

2) Hoodoo is presented as a form of magical attack on white people by black people (see "The Skeleton Key").

3) Hoodoo is presented as a magical system whereby black people assist white people who are cursed (see "Apprentice to Murder")

A film may also mingle two of the three elements. I suspect that "Jessebelle" will be found to mingle (1) and (3). Very rarely a white director will present hoodoo as part of the culture of black Americans which is not performed in reference to white Americans -- that is, neither used to attack them, nor used to cure them of an attack.

For a better look at hoodoo, see this link instead -- it is a clip about hoodoo in Maxton, North Carolina in 2009 and is taken from a movie that actually documents Voodoo. The two are distinguished and shown separately in the movie. The film maker is a German anthropologist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3meQg_Q5Yg

In this clip we see a root doctor making a mojo, using easily identified John the Conqueror Roots and what seems to be Five Finger Grass, as well as a sachet powder and Court Case Oil.

[magicmurphy]

I'm ordering Jessabelle and Voodoo Man right now. This will be useful.

Doc Murphy
St. Paul, MN

[Miss Aida]

Hello,

I really liked the movie "Skeleton Key."

Miss Aida

[veggiekiller88]

That was a really interesting clip! Is there a reason why he smashed up the JTC roots?

[Miss Aida]

Hello, veggiekiller88 ,

So, we will have to wait for cat to see this post

Take care

[LuckyLobo]

May be a little bit of Blackhawk in Avenged 2015 amazon has it on instant video and free if you have prime .

[catherineyronwode]

veggiekiller88,

It is quite common to smash up roots of all kinds to carry in a mojo. When a root is used whole it must either be very small to fit into a combination hand or it must be used solo as a pocket piece. We sell pre-crushed John the Conqueror Root chips for those who wish to add small pieces to a mojo or an oil.

[catherineyronwode]

Interesting ... p;After a run of movies that mentioned hoodoo in the early 2000s-2010s, the trend seems to have dissipated.

[cognitivedissonance]

World of Warcraft and the Diablo series of video games have endless quests for mojo bags, but they don't seem to know anything about the subject and conflate them with voodoo pretty consistently. The "Witch Doctor" character in Diablo is pretty much the most racist thing I've ever seen in video games in decades.

The Disney cartoon "The Princess and the Frog" has Doctor Facilier, who is also laid out as a voodoo practitioner but his dolls, bags and tarot readings are all hoodoo in usage and design. He seems to work exclusively with ancestors rather than loa so that just doubles down.