Roald Dahl's The Witches debuts a new trailer and a release date on HBO Max

Roald Dahl's The Witches is coming to HBO Max on October 22, and its new trailer introduces the kids, witches, and one determined grandmother at the center of the story.

The movie is an adaptation of the 1983 novel by children's author Roald Dahl, who also penned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and many more adapted books. It stars Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch, Jahzir Bruno as its kid protagonist (with narration from Chris Rock as his grown-up counterpart), and Octavia Spencer as the protective grandmother.

The story unfolds at a ritzy hotel as the witches gather to begin a terrible new scheme: a plot to transform all of the world's children into mice, starting with our unfortunate protagonist. From there, he'll need all of his mousey agility, and a lot of help from his grandmother, to foil the witches' plans before they get any closer to their nefarious ambitions.

The trailer shows that Hathaway and Spencer – both Oscar winners – are really going for it here, delivering lines like "I'll never let you get away with your filthy, evil plot!" and "Who's gonna stop me?!" with campy glee. Hathaway lays on the faux-Transylvanian accident thick enough to instantaneously carve every pumpkin within a one-mile radius of her character, and I have nothing but the highest respect for that classic horror energy.

You can see what else is coming to the new streaming service next with our guide to what's new on HBO Max in October.

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.