The Witch

The Witch (2015)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely well-made horror film set in New England during the 1600s as a family moves away from a colony and starts a new life in a house on the edge of some woods. One day the oldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) is watching her baby brother when something from the woods takes the child. Soon the family is torn apart by witchcraft.

Writer-director Robert Eggers' THE WITCH is the latest horror movie that is getting raves from critics and fans and it's also the newest movie to be called the "scariest of all time." I'm not going to sit here and say the movie scared me because it really didn't. With that said, THE WITCH really was a refreshing throwback to various European horror films from the late 60s and early 70s where atmosphere was the most important thing.

I really respected that Eggers tried to deliver a religious horror film that didn't deal with cheap shock effects and needless over-the-top exorcisms. There's really not any graphic violence or gore either. Instead of going for these cheap jump scares the director instead builds up a terrific setting and slowly plays out the action. The film clocks in at just over 90 minutes and rest assure that every single second is well-made, effective and it slowly builds up to its conclusion. I'm sure mainstream teenage viewers won't enjoy such a slow build-up but adults should enjoy this.

The atmosphere is certainly the selling point of the movie. I thought the director made you believe that you were watching something taking place in the 1600s and there's no question that the entire cast does a very good job in their parts. The atmosphere is certainly rich and thick and manages to set the film apart from most of the horror movies out there now. As I said, I wasn't scared by THE WITCH but it did a good job at slowly building up the drama and it plays out extremely well.

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.

To say I didn't get what I was expecting is a huge understatement, I was expecting a run of the mill horror, with all the usual cliches, obvious and blatant scares, etc, but instead I got to watch ninety minutes of rather subtle, intelligent and subtle horror. The film is hugely atmospheric, moody and tense, it is visually fantastic, with great scenery and costumes. The story unfolds cleverly, when I think of witches, this is what comes to mind, as opposed to the more conventional. As you watch you never quite know what's coming next, or who the malign force truly is. Some truly unsettling and disturbing scenes, it's not a horror in the conventional sense, the scares are not cheap, but very poignant. Very good performance from the cast, Ralph Inseson and Kate Dickie in particular. On occasion the dialogue sounded a little flat, but it was in keeping with the setting of the movie.

Very watchable.

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.

The Witch is just a great horror film. I loved so much about it. It has a great creepy feel to it, a dark evil vibe mixed in, and a touch of urban legend sprinkled on top.

The film takes place in such a secluded ___location that it instantly gives you a feeling of loneliness and dread before it even unfolds its beautifully constructed storyline. I loved the plot, the timing, the acting... basically everything about the film. It's also a brilliant display of female empowerment, which is common among horror films, but in a whole new way that's different from the standard last surviving girl motif.

Whether you're a fan of horror, or just great films in general... I highly suggest The Witch to everyone.

A very strong and deserving 8 out of 10!