The Witch

When you leave the theater in stunned silence, I think the film did its job. The Witch is the next low budget horror film to reach the theaters this year, and it's easily the best. The film rarely ever relies on jump scares to get your head spinning as the core of this film's brilliance lies with its haunting imagery and eerie score.

It's hard for an audience of this day and age to get into a period piece set in the 17th century without any big name actors or action elements. And I have to admit that I wasn't sure I wanted to see a film like this, especially with its horror elements. But my eyes were pealed from beginning to end. I wouldn't say anything about the story shocked me or had me confused, but the imagery, score, and uncompromising nature to Robert Egger's direction left me breathless. Within 10 minutes I was looking at the screen and whispering to myself "why would you go there?", "Don't do that!", or "come on, really?". Not because I thought it was poor story- telling, but because I was so invested as to what these characters were doing.

With that said, I don't think this film is for everyone. It's brutal, harshly relentless, and utterly disturbing. The characters use all 17th century dialogue and the cinematography sets this grey and ominous tone. The imagery from beginning to end will stick in your head as it has done with me. But that's the way horror films should be. I wouldn't say it's more a psychological thriller because there are plenty of terrifying moments, but it is more for the 'Under the Skin' crowd than it is for people who love 'The Conjuring'. Even in its harsh moments, I was always invested and I can't deny the quality of the writing, directing, and acting all around. This is how you make a horror film.

+Terrifying imagery

+Egger's direction

+Invested from beginning to end

-Sometimes the dialogue is difficult to follow

7.6/10

It took me a very long time, up until just this past weekend, to watch The Witch ("aka VVitch". It has been on my radar since it first came out, but it's hard for me to sit through slow-burn films, especially of the arthouse variety, so I naturally procrastinated. I've watched Eggers other movies (Lighthouse, etc.) and for the most part enjoy them, though I can't honestly call myself a devout fan of Eggers; more like an appreciative admirer. But back to Witch, I finally sat down to watch it, and new from the start that it would try my patience with it's setting, lingo and subtle terror. But damm am I glad I kept watching! This film is a masterclass in dread. It's almost difficult to explain how the horror slowly creeps into your nerves without you ever realizing it until it's too late. The buildup was "delicious" and never for a moment did I want to turn it off. Yes, it's not for everyone; short-attention-span audiences will most likely turn it off within the first 10 minutes (then leave a negative review because they didn't get their jump scares and their gore). But those who understand and enjoy this sort of quiet, slow arthouse horror will most likely put it on their favorites list above and beyond anything else Eggers ever makes. The bigger his budgets become, the less likely he is to create these small-scope, moody masterpieces.

This is a story set in the early colonial period of New England. It has the authenticity of a well-researched historical drama, up to and including dialogue delivered in a period accent and vocabulary (softened a bit so that it's easy to understand). Instead of drawing on historical events, though, it draws on historical folklore -- it's the story of witchcraft afflicting a family, such as might have been told at the time.

The characters are a very believable, ordinary family, with the sorts of tensions and problems you'd expect from people living a hard and substantially isolated life after being exiled from the local colonial town. They also have period Calvinist attitudes, and the storytelling doesn't present an outsider's view of this or offer a modern commentary, but instead it just displays these attitudes and tells a story from the characters' standpoint.

Their reliance on period folklore means that it doesn't strictly follow modern horror movie tropes, either. It has the slow build of a modern psychological horror/thriller as well as the standard formula where tragedies start from tragic flaws, but the traditions it's drawing on depend on a Calvinist's conception of flaws, and treat witchcraft as a horrible, well-understood occurrence rather than a shocking supernatural surprise. This story applies these perspectives.

It's very well done in terms of writing, acting, and other aspects of execution, so it might have cross-over appeal to fans of horror, folklore, or straight period drama from colonial America.

This is what I call a good movie. But it is not for everyone. After seeing the trailer, lots of people thought they get a horror spectacle. I'll never understand why, because the trailer itself is very slow, just like the whole movie.

The movies has a slow pace but its still intense. And it will only feel intense if you give in and not wait for action and speed. This movie is no Hollywood spectacle.

The movie feels like a depiction of real life. No stupid jokes and exaggerated action scenes. Slow and calm dialogues. I liked the way the witch was enacted too. I am happy to see that she is not shown as a crazy woman jumping around eating toads.

On the other side, I wished there would have been a deeper insight into the witches thoughts.

So... go and see if you want more than silly Hollywood witches.

This is more of a historical psychological thriller than a Hollywood blood and guts horror film.

The film is a loving and accurate recreation of Puritan New England in the 1600s with everything from the language to the sets being authentic to the period. That in and of itself makes it fascinating to watch. Having lived in Virginia, where the Jamestown Settlement and the 1600s sometimes can seem like they happened the day before yesterday, I especially enjoyed the film. The location, in Ontario, reminded me of rural Virginia in winter, which made me quite homesick. So the film might have affected me more than some other audience members.

The Witch is a fascinating glimpse into Christianity as practiced by 17th century Puritans. Satan and Evil are almost tangible presences in the woods and wilderness of the New World, while God is a distant, cold, and demanding being who must be constantly begged for forgiveness and mercy, since all human thoughts, words, and deeds seem to be gravely sinful and offensive to his eyes.

A family of seven (parents, four children, and an infant) are exiled from their plantation community for not adhering to the accepted interpretation of scripture. They build a farm at a distance from the plantation near a frightening wood. The farm is failing (the family won't have food to last the winter). Meanwhile, the infant has been snatched from the oldest daughter while in her care at the edge of the wood. From this point on the family either descends into madness or is destroyed by Satan in the form of a witch who lives nearby in the woods. How the family's disintegration is interpreted will depend on which century's point of view you choose to use.