Enchanting botanicals: Using herbs, plants, and flowers to create a witchy atmosphere

Witchcraft Inspired Interior Design Witchcraft has long been associated with mystery, magic, and the occult. For those who are drawn to the magical and mystical, incorporating elements of witchcraft into their interior design can create an enchanting and captivating atmosphere. One of the main elements of witchcraft-inspired interior design is the use of natural materials. This can include incorporating earth tones, such as deep greens and browns, as well as using materials like wood, stone, and rattan to create a connection to nature. These natural materials not only add to the aesthetic, but they can also help to create a sense of grounding and connection to the earth. Another key aspect of witchcraft-inspired interior design is the use of symbols and objects associated with witchcraft.

NOROI follows a documentary filmmaker, Masafumi Kobayashi, as he slowly uncovers something mysterious and evil that's leaving a trail of dead bodies in its wake. After interviewing a woman who claims to hear loud baby's cries coming from the house next door (where there is no baby), Kobayashi heads over to talk to the neighbor. He's greeted with hostility by the unhinged, disheveled woman (Maria Takagi) who answers the door (and promptly slams it in his face) and gets a peek at her 6-year-old son through a window. Strangely, both the woman and her son disappear just days after his visit (leaving behind a pile of dead pigeons on their back porch), and the woman who first complained about the noises, as well as her daughter, are both killed in a mysterious accident not long after that. This piques Kobayashi's interest and he sets out on a quest to find out what's going on. He soon uncovers that those with psychic abilities and extra-sensory perception seem to be tuning into something sinister, unexplainable and possibly even apocalyptic. Well-known 10-year-old clairvoyant, and TV celebrity, Kana (Rio Kanno) seems to think we may all be doomed, but she mysteriously disappears before she can be of much help. Another female psychic/actress (Marika Matsumoto) becomes involved, as does Mr. Nori, a mentally unstable kook/psychic who wears a hat and jacket made of aluminum foil and thinks people are being eaten by what he refers to "ectoplasmic worms." Clues eventually lead back to the site of a small village that's now covered by a lake, and the legend of an ancient demon known as Kagutaba.

For the better part of 15 years, Noroi was the subject of only occasional international screenings, and it never got a physical release in the United States. You have to pay attention to those unrelated details given throughout the film and the payoff is great when, in course of the film, these things start to intertwine one another.

Another key aspect of witchcraft-inspired interior design is the use of symbols and objects associated with witchcraft. This can include incorporating items like crystals, tarot cards, and cauldrons into the design scheme. These objects can act as focal points and add a touch of mystique to the space.

Noroi: The Curse Is a Genuinely Terrifying Hidden Gem

The Japanese horror film from 2005 defies convention and has developed a cult-like following—and for good reason.

Noroi: The Curse opens with a warning: "This video documentary is deemed too disturbing for public viewing.” It spends the subsequent two hours living up to that warning.

I don’t want to say too much about Noroi’s plot, because one key to its success is throwing so many different things at the audience before revealing how they all come together. But broadly: Noroi is a 2005 horror movie presented as a polished but incomplete documentary by an independent journalist named Masafumi Kobayashi (Jin Muraki). Kobayashi specializes in the supernatural, and his latest project tackles a series of seemingly disconnected mysteries: a creepy house where neighbors always hear the sound of crying babies, a string of sudden and bizarre deaths, an adolescent girl with apparent psychic powers, and a ghost-hunting reality TV show that goes very, very wrong. Chasing these threads ultimately leads Kobayashi to an old ritual tied to a demon named Kagutaba. What follows is a strange mishmash of surreal imagery presented in a disarmingly straightforward way—dead pigeons, braided ropes, barking dogs—and a dread-inducing downward spiral.

It is not a spoiler to say that things don’t end well for Kobayashi; Noroi literally opens by explaining that Kobayashi’s house has burned down with his wife inside, and that Kobayashi himself has vanished. So ultimately, the question isn’t what happens to these characters. It’s why and how it happens, and what it means.

Found-footage movies have a bad reputation among horror fans—which is fair, since most of them are terrible. So what makes Noroi stand out from the dozens of bad, cheap imitators that cropped up in the wake of The Blair Witch Project, which came out five years earlier? Director Kōji Shiraishi makes one brilliant choice upfront: Unlike most found-footage movies—which are usually presented as raw footage shot by a doomed amateur—Noroi is introduced as a mostly-completed "documentary" crafted by a seasoned journalist. This immediately fixes several problems that typically plague found-footage movies. Because the character holding the camera is supposed to be a professional cameraman, Noroi largely avoids the headache-inducing shaky-cam popularized by legions of Blair Witch Project imitators. And because Kobayashi is experienced, the "found footage" is edited more like a conventional documentary meant to entertain and inform a mass audience, which means that Noroi—even at nearly two hours—is paced more like a real film than some weirdo’s old home movie.

Noroi’s commitment to documentary conventions is so absolute that it can be jarring if you’re not prepared for it. One early scene shows a ghostly figure briefly appearing in the woods. In a normal horror movie, this would be a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment designed to make you go, Did I really just see that? But just as you’re turning that moment over in your head, Noroi rewinds and freeze-frames the image of the figure in the woods and analyzes it closely—as, of course, any responsible documentarian would.

This is the unconventional but successful trick at the heart of Noroi: By refusing to follow the beats and tropes of a normal horror movie, it ends up feeling real. In theory, this is what most found-footage horror movies attempt to do—but Noroi’s purity is rarer than you might think. Most found-footage movies at least try to sneak in a few traditional cinematic building blocks, like character arcs. The Blair Witch Project’s Heather begins the story as an overconfident amateur filmmaker, and ends by admitting she’s in way over her head. Cloverfield’s Rob and Beth begin the story by pretending they’re not in love, and confess they love each other just before the bombs start to drop.

Noroi doesn’t bother with anything like that. Masafumi Kobayashi and his ally Marika Matsumoto—an actress, like The Blair Witch Project’s Heather, playing a fictionalized version of herself under her real name—are perfectly credible protagonists. But we don’t really learn anything about them, and they don’t change or grow from their encounters with the demon Kagutaba. They just (WARNING: possible spoiler, but also not really a spoiler) get devoured by it. Even if the movie didn’t tell you about its closing tragedy in its opening text, it’s obvious that Kobayashi and Matsumoto have walked into a trap they can’t recognize until they’re already caught, and that everyone around them will be dragged in as well.

So if it’s so great, why haven’t you already seen Noroi? Because until earlier this year, it was very, very difficult for anyone who wasn’t in Japan to track it down. For the better part of 15 years, Noroi was the subject of only occasional international screenings, and it never got a physical release in the United States. But the absence of an official release had an unintentional but potent side effect: It allowed Noroi to spread across the internet like an urban legend. Many people encountered Noroi for the first time in bootleg subtitled copies that were uploaded in full to torrent sites or YouTube by devoted fans.

I would, uh, never endorse watching a movie this way (and for the record: Now that it’s on Shudder, or for purchase on iTunes, that’s how you should watch it). But you can also see how obscurity only fanned the flames of Noroi’s cult appeal. When viewed through a YouTube window, some of Noroi’s more off-putting qualities—like the incredibly grainy VHS-style picture quality, which stands out even more in the HD era—are sneaky assets, helping the movie camouflage the fact that it’s a movie at all. And it’s hard to imagine a better way to enhance this movie’s already disturbing sense of realism than dropping it on YouTube devoid of any context, where curious, brave viewers could swap the link on message boards and debate just how much of it was real.

If I have one complaint, it’s that—as great as Noroi: The Curse is—putting it on Shudder alongside horror classics like Night of the Living Dead and Halloween also gives the game away. In an ideal world, this movie would still be hiding among all the amateur documentaries you can find on YouTube, ready to make anyone who stumbles onto it spend some sleepless nights wondering just how much of it was real.

Another difference between Noroi and Blair Witch is that Noroi provides not one, but two very long finales, the second of which is placed a minute after the credits start to roll and is the single greatest scare scene in the history of horror cinema. I do not say such things lightly. It totally wrecked me in a wonderous way.

Additionally, symbols such as the pentacle or the triple moon can be incorporated into artwork or displayed on textiles to further enhance the witchcraft aesthetic. In terms of furniture and decor, witchcraft-inspired interior design often includes elements of vintage or antique style. This can include using antique furniture pieces, vintage-inspired lighting fixtures, or incorporating older, weathered items into the design scheme. These vintage elements add a sense of history and depth to the space, creating a lived-in and mysterious atmosphere. Lastly, lighting plays a crucial role in witchcraft-inspired interior design. Warm and dim lighting can create an inviting and mystical ambiance. Candles are often used to create atmospheric lighting and can be incorporated into various areas of the space. Other lighting options, such as fairy lights or lantern-style fixtures, can also add to the magical and enchanting atmosphere. In summary, witchcraft-inspired interior design is all about creating a space that is enchanting, mystical, and connected to nature. By incorporating natural materials, symbols and objects associated with witchcraft, vintage elements, and atmospheric lighting, one can create a captivating and magical environment that embraces the spirit of witchcraft..

Reviews for "Moonlit dreams: How to create a celestial-inspired bedroom for an otherworldly sleep experience"

- John - 2/5 stars - I recently visited a friend's house who had embraced the witchcraft inspired interior design trend, and I have to say, I was not impressed. The dark and eerie atmosphere made me feel uncomfortable from the moment I stepped inside. The abundance of black candles, cauldrons, and other occult symbols all over the place gave off an unsettling vibe. I understand that everyone has their own taste, but for me, this type of interior design was just too spooky and not at all appealing.

- Lisa - 1/5 stars - I have to say, I absolutely hated the witchcraft inspired interior design trend. The whole idea of incorporating elements like witch hats, broomsticks, black cats, and spell books into home decor is just bizarre to me. I was visiting a relative who recently embraced this trend, and I couldn't wait to leave. The use of dark colors and creepy decorations made me feel like I was in a haunted house rather than a cozy home. I prefer a more bright, cheerful, and inviting atmosphere, so this witchcraft inspired interior design was definitely not my cup of tea.

- Sarah - 3/5 stars - I recently attended a Halloween-themed party where the host had fully embraced the witchcraft inspired interior design trend, and while I have to admit it was an interesting and creative concept, it didn't really appeal to me personally. The abundance of spider webs, witch broomsticks, and cauldrons was a bit overwhelming, and it made it difficult to fully enjoy the party. However, I can see how certain individuals with a fascination for the occult might find it intriguing. While it wasn't my favorite interior design theme, I can appreciate the effort and creativity that went into it.

Summoning spirits: Incorporating spiritual elements into your home decor