I must shamefully admit that the actress Bette Davis was previously only for me from Kim Carnes’ song, and I did not recognise her at all before seeing the movie’s poster. Here in Wicked Stepmother she plays the alternate form of a witch that has married a neat and tidy couple, and it’s especially her younger form (played by the fabulous Barbara Carrera) that she occasionally takes that has a way of wrapping people around her fingers.

The movie is harmless fun, and most of the events don’t really make sense at all – like her having to swap bodies with an older and younger version of the witch using a cat, and especially her plan to get rich by marrying men, wising them up and putting them to win big time in a game show before taking the money and shrinking the whole family makes less sense than anything I’ve encountered in ages.

Wicked Stepmother starts strong with an interesting premise, but I wish the writing was a bit more intelligent as I feel there could’ve been a good supernatural horror comedy buried somewhere in this pile of nonsense. For what it’s worth, I was happy to see the always funny David Rasche (of the Sledge Hammer! fame) in the lead role.

80s-o-meter: 92%

Total: 70%