History Main / HollywoodVoodoo

* Most zombie movies prior to NightOfTheLivingDead have this (as do a tiny handful of later ones, like TheSerpentAndTheRainbow). Val Lewton's IWalkedWithAZombie is a notable quasi-subversion for making something like a good-faith baseline attempt to understand and depict the actual religion, tossing terms like "houngan" and "hounfort" into the conversation, and even - astonishingly, for the time and milieu - deciding that [[spoiler: it's NOT a ReligionOfEvil, but merely a power around with which one should not screw.]] Still has zombies and voodoo dolls, though.

* ''StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Catspaw". Sylvia holds a tiny figure of the ''Enterprise'' over a candle, and the ship in orbit heats up dangeorously.

*** By his behaviour, he seems to be a bokor (a sort of professional DealWithTheDevil middle man) — dealing with baka "bribable spirits" as opposed to a voodoo priest who would commune with the loa.

* {{Diablo}} 3's upcoming Witch Doctor class is quite clearly this trope played straight. They can summon walls of zombies, conjure poisonous frogs and scare monsters with a giant ghostly totem. How well their in-universe religion is represented is yet to be seen.

*** By his behaviour, he seems to be a bokor (a sort of professional DealWithTheDevil middle man) — dealing with baka "bribable spirits" as opposed to a voodoo priest who would commune with the loa.

** M:tA's "Magical Traditions" introduces Southern Conjure as a legitimate "flavor" upon which to hang your character's actions. It's fairly respectful and well researched, although it offers a special merit called "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" that basically turns any mage into a walking, talking Fate Arcana magnet.

* The Carrionites in ''DoctorWho'' (mostly based on European witches) also use some kind of voodoo, stealing a lock of the Doctor's hair and using it to make a doll which they then stab in the heart, stopping the Doctor's heart...fortunately, [[IHaveTwoKidneys he has two]].

** Not even Indigenous folk beliefs?

* ''ThePJs'' features Haiti Lady, a practicing Voodoo priestess.

* One episode of ''TwoStupidDogs'' had Super Secret Squirrel battle a Voodoo practicing goat who has made dolls of Super and The Chief to control them. Morocco Mole finds the dolls and starts playing with them. HilarityEnsues.
* LiloAndStitch: Lilo makes Voodoo dolls of the other girls and dunks them in pickle juice, [[CloudCuckooLander blithely explaining that]] "[[BewareTheNiceOnes my friends need to be punished.]]"
* ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' uses plenty of this, to enhance its [[TheBigEasy N'Awlins]] setting. Just watch Dr. Facilier's VillainSong "Friends On the Other Side" and you'll see how "voodoo" means the same as "magic" to Disney. Though, really, it's ''[[DisneyAcidSequence Disney]]''. [[RuleOfCool Everything is going to be magical, with or without the voodoo.]]
** What's interesting is that the Villain seems to have ''some'' grounding in Hoo-Doo ritual (although by "some", I mean "practically none"), whereas his good opposite is just a generic "Fairy Godmother".
*** By his behaviour he seems to be a bokor (a sort of professional DealWithTheDevil middle man) - dealing with baka "bribable spirits" as opposed to a voodoo priest who would commune with the loa.

*** When he mentions "hoodoo", he summons a WHITE chicken, which is a case of YouFailReligiousStudiesForever... white chickens have absolutely no magical connotation in hoodoo whatsoever, it's the BLACK ones that you have to worry about.

* ''TheFairlyOddparents'' had an episode where Timmy wished up "Yoo Doo" dolls that could control anyone. Needless to say, HilarityEnsues!

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<<|MagicAndPowers|>>

This is a form of magic in either [[WelcomeToTheCaribbeanLuv Caribbean]] or [[TheBigEasy New Orleans-ian]] flavors. Many practitioners call themselves priests or priestesses, and they almost always do have supernatural powers, regardless of whether supernatural powers appear elsewhere in TheVerse. Sympathetic magical dolls (ie, what you do to them appears on the person they represent) are a classical trick, as is making [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]]. Other practitioners simply use [[FortuneTeller tarot cards]], which predict the future; these cards also always work, even if they have to rewrite reality to do it.

!!Examples

*** Sympathetic magic poppets ''are'' cross cultural, though it is difficult to say if India has a version of the stabby-pain variant. (See Hardy's 'The Return of the Native' for a reference to one of the English variants on the poppet phenomenon and general dark hedge witchery in general.)

*** Still somewhat follows the trope, as real life hoodoo is descended from Eastern Eauropean Witchcraft (amongst many other things). Though Hoodoo isn't that big on dolls.

* In the''{{GURPS}}'' Sourcebook ''GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War'', players can create [[RitualMagic ritual adepts]] who use either Voodoo trappings or [[HermeticMagic Hermetic rituals]] to channel subtle magical effects and command spirit beings. The Shadow War mentioned in the title is between the Hermetic Orders, an AncientConspiracy who secretly control the western world, and the Voodoo Lodges who have begun to fight back and subvert their authority, with both sides also having to deal with dark adepts, their evil spirit allies, and their [[EldritchAbominations Dark Masters]].

* In the''{{GURPS}}'' Sourcebook ''GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War'', players can create [[RitualMagic ritual adepts]] who use either Voodoo trappings or [[HermeticMagic Hermetic rituals]] to channel subtle magical effects and command spirit beings. The Shadow War mentioned in the title is between the Hermetic Orders, an AncientConspiracy who secretly control the western world, and the Voodoo Lodges who have begun to fight back and subvert their authority, with both sides also having to deal with dark adepts, their evil spirit allies, and the [[EldritchAbominations]] they serve.

*** When he mentions "hoodoo", he summons a WHITE chicken, which is [[ YouFailReligiousStudiesForever a hilarious misunderstanding]]... white chickens have absolutely no magical connotation in hoodoo whatsoever, it's the BLACK ones that you have to worry about.

*** When he mentions "hoodoo", he summons a WHITE chicken, which is [[a hilarious misunderstanding YouFailReligiousStudiesForever]]... white chickens have absolutely no magical connotation in hoodoo whatsoever, it's the BLACK ones that you have to worry about.

* ''TheBluesBrothers 2000.'' "Nassau's gone funky..."
** Of course, TheBluesBrothers 2000 pretty much runs on RuleOfFunny.
*** [[YourMileageMayVary In theory.]]

*** The Carrionites are also [[WitchSpecies aliens]] who predate the existence of planet Earth. SoYeah.

-->[shoots everyone]