Top 10 Movie Spellcasters

The Spellcaster: Thousands of years old but surprisingly well-preserved, Belthazar once studied under Merlin – until the legendary wizard was betrayed and killed by apprentice Maxim Horvath. Given a dragon ring by Merlin in his dying breath, Belthazar searches the centuries for the Prime Merlinian – Merlin’s eventual successor.

Power Rating: A proficient magic-maker, Belthazar can chuck energy balls and do a fair bit of fancy wizarding stuff. Shame he’s not up to the task of being Merlin’s successor – that responsibility falls to unlucky teen Dave Stutler.

The Spellcaster: Possessing a carefree spirit as wild as the wind, Gillian has drawn the short straw in the love stakes. Upon discovering that her neighbour Shep is set to wed an old high school nemesis of hers, Gillian casts a spell to make Shep fall for her. But as she starts to fall for him back, she worries she’ll lose her powers.

Power Rating: If witches were rated on their perky cuteness, Gillian would take home the biggest trophy. Sadly, they’re not. In the end, Gillian loses her witchy abilities after falling head over broomstick for Shep. Nuts.

The Spellcaster: Old hag Mortianna aids the Sheriff of Nottingham in his malevolent scheming, peering into the future using runes, blood and spit. More creepy than anything else, she’s got a duff eye, ghoulish wisps of fly-away hair and razor-sharp talons. In serious need of a slot on Extreme Makeover .

Power Rating: Not even a spear can stop Mortianna. Skewered after attacking Robin, she runs about Nottingham Castle screaming her head off like a big, ugly kebab. It’s Azeem who eventually offs Mortianna, lobbing his sword at her.

The Spellcaster: Nutjob high-schooler Nancy flies off the rails when her advances on stud muffin Chris are rejected. Calling on all her spooky supernatural magic stuff, she takes it out on new coven recruit Sarah in a spectacular display of teenage hormones spinning out of control.

Power Rating: Shape-shifting, levitating, generally being a big meanie, Nancy is damned good at being damned scary. Sadly, she’s no match for Sarah's purer than thou Mother Earth, who manages to bind her powers. Poor old Nancy winds up committed to an insane asylum. The Craft 2: Mental Magic next?

The Spellcaster: Vampire-witch Katia… Wait a minute. Yes. Vampire-witch. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about how awesome this nefarious individual is. In 1630, Katia is burned at the stake for meddling in magical stuff. But she swears revenge on her persecutors and returns 200 years later…

Power Rating: The resurrection part is sort of a deal breaker – without that, Katia would just be another vampire-witch to add to the vampire-witch pile. Instead she’s a creepy, grudge-bearing nasty who refuses to bury hatchets. Hell hath no fury…

The Spellcaster: Tightly-wound Queen Bavmorda resides in the dark and desolate Nockmaar and is obsessed with rooting out a baby girl who it has been prophesised will grow up to destroy her. Humourless and crippled by her quest, Bavmorda relies on General Kael, the commander of her army, to carry out her orders.

Power Rating: Drawing on Greek myth, Bavmorda transforms Airk’s army into pigs – which shows a fair amount of skill and imagination. She also commands the elements, not to mention has all the land cowering under her rule.

The Spellcaster: “I'll get you, my pretty... and your little dog too!” An iconic trouble bewer, green from head to toe, the Wicked Witch Of The West is bent on revenge when Dorothy’s arrival in Oz causes the death of her sister, the Wicked Witch Of The East. Mostly she just wants them ruby slippers.

Power Rating: More calculating and corrupting than all-out powerful, the Wicked Witch can fly (on a broom, naturally) and excels in laying traps. Points for the cackle, but the fact that she can be dissolved in water limits her fear factor.

The Spellcaster: Vicious. Mean. Ambitious. Voldemort is so feared that many in the witch and wizard community refuse to even utter his name – preferring instead to call him He Who Must Not Be Named. Years ago he had the witch world in a death grip, raining chaos down on all and sundry. It wasn’t until a boy called Harry Potter was born that things really got messy…

Power Rating: So powerful (and, alright, evil) that he was able to split his soul into seven neat little pieces, Voldemort will stop at nothing in his quest for ultimate power. Potter has other ideas, however.

The Spellcaster: A decrepit old magic-weaver, Markos is a Greek immigrant who sets up a prestigious dance academy in Freiburg. There, she hides behind the impressive school façade while fortifying her own coven of murderous hell-witches. She’s also known as the Mother of Sighs, though the significance of this is never fully explained.

Power Rating: She’s up there. Possessing the ability to become invisible and kill from a distance, Markos and her coven’s activities include bringing a statue to life and the gory murder of various innocents. She’s taken down by a mortal girl quite easily, though.

The Spellcaster: Wise beyond any commonly-held wisdom, Gandalf is a wily wanderer whose mission to rid Middle Earth of the evil Sauron stems as much from his need to do right as it does from his inclination toward sorcery.

Power Rating: So powerful that even death cannot kill him. Plunging to his undeath atop the fearsome Balrog, Gandalf rises again as Gandalf The White, an even more fearsome incarnation of his former self. His a pivotal figure in bringing down Sauron and restoring order. Also, he has a big stick. Awesome.