The
Witch is a 2016 period horror film. The directorial debut of Robert
Egger, the film stars Ralph Ineson (The Office), Anya Taylor-Joy and
Kate Dickie (Prometheus, Filth). The film is based on historical
accounts and folklore from the
time and was endorsed and promoted by the Satanic Temple.
Set in 17th
Century colonial America, the film begins with William (Ineson) and his
family being exiled from their own community for being excessively
puritanical. They end up founding their own farmstead at the edge of a
dense
wood. William’s wife Katherine (Dickie) gives birth to a baby boy, in
addition to their twins, young son Caleb and teenage daughter Thomasin
(Taylor-Joy). However, things take a turn for the worst when the baby is
snatched by the witch in the woods and the
family is thrown into turmoil. To make matters worse, Caleb also goes
missing in the woods and is returned with a terrible fever and the
family soon start to suspect Thomasin as the witch. Confounded by an
assortment of devilish animals, including family goat
“Black Phillip”, the family are tormented and torn apart by the phantom
in the woods as their faith in God is stretched to the limit.
From
the opening shots of The Witch, it’s clear that this is going to be an
incredibly visual film and this only intensifies as you’re drawn deeper
into the world. The overhead shots are creeping and the interior shots
are claustrophobic,
this is pure Kubrick and shows an impressive command of the screen for a
first time director. What’s also interesting is the decision to linger
on black after certain cuts for longer than usual just to ramp up the
tension even more. The score is terrifying
and the use of ghostly choirs and discordant strings amplifies the
dread and atmosphere to almost unbearable levels at times.
The
film owes a lot to The Wicker Man (1974) as well as the more recent A
Field in England (2012), not just in its allusion to pagan rituals and
Witchcraft, but also in the way that it’s a horror film much more in
style than in its content
or plot. Eggers touches the cornerstones of the genre without ever
being sucked into the clichés and tropes as you might expect from the
title and marketing of the film. I’m always a sucker for period horror
and the setting of New England during the “witch
trials” period is always worth revisiting. To enhance this, Eggers
authentic script is beautifully written and fantastically delivered
(most often through Inesons unmistakable tones).
The
Witch may buckle under its own hype at times, but it never breaks,
standing out as a stark and original piece that betrays it’s bog
standard horror marketing campaign. A painfully slow pace may turn some
off and perhaps it suffers from
style over substance at times but give it a few days and you’ll find
the bleak imagery and heavy themes remain under the skin. The Witch is a
breath of fresh air for fans of both horror and art house cinema and
aims to unsettle and unnerve rather than to scare.
Also features the best performance by a goat this side of Drag me to
Hell (2009).
**** 4 Stars
What did you think of the Witch? Did it live up to the hype?
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