Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian Owens (Nicole Kidman) have been told by their aunts (Stockard Channing, Dianne Wiest) early on about the family curse. Their ancestor Maria Owens was hung as a witch, but she survives. She was exiled to what is now their home Maria's Island in Massachusetts with her unborn child. She casts a spell to never fall in love. The curse has endured killing all the men that Owens women love. Gillian is the wild child and she wanders away from home. Sally stayed home. Against all odds, she falls in love with her husband and has two girls. Everything seems fine until the curse strike her husband dead. Then drunken mess Gillian calls one night for help. Gillian's boyfriend Jimmy (Goran Visnjic) takes both sisters hostage. Sally tries to dose Jimmy with belladonna but an overdose kills him. So they bury his body in the yard. Police detective Gary Hallet (Aidan Quinn) comes investigating the missing Jimmy. Only Jimmy's spirit is now haunting the sisters.
This movie is a witches' brew of mismatch genres. It wants so desperately to be a rom-com. But there are some really dark fantasy elements that would probably be better off as a thriller. And then there are real slices of horror. It's a wildly inconsistent mess. For so much of it, director Griffin Dunne is using such a delicate light touch to the tone that all the murder and mayhem seems weirdly fake. Bullock and Kidman are great actors who has good chemistry together as sisters. However, the chemistry between Bullock and Quinn is questionable. The main reason being that the love may be spell induced. I just don't know what to do with this mess.
This movie is a witches' brew of mismatch genres. It wants so desperately to be a rom-com. But there are some really dark fantasy elements that would probably be better off as a thriller. And then there are real slices of horror. It's a wildly inconsistent mess. For so much of it, director Griffin Dunne is using such a delicate light touch to the tone that all the murder and mayhem seems weirdly fake. Bullock and Kidman are great actors who has good chemistry together as sisters. However, the chemistry between Bullock and Quinn is questionable. The main reason being that the love may be spell induced. I just don't know what to do with this mess.