The Witch

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. “The Witch” is an effective horror film that does not play like a typical horror film. Not the ones we’re used to getting nowadays anyway. It has frightening moments but often plays more like a thriller or a paranoid. It’s not a gory film and it’s not a picture where creepy creatures will suddenly emerge out of the shadows either. It’s about atmosphere, about a persistent feeling of unease as a family is caught in a living nightmare.

In 17th Century New England, deeply religious William (Ralph Ineson) settles with his family – his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie), his eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) and the youngest twins Mercy and Jonas (Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson) on the edge of a large forest. Several months after building their home and their farm, an inexplicable tragedy hits the family. As more and more odd events plague them, the family begins turning against Thomasin, believing that she has cursed them.

The horror here is the kind that you can only experience if you put yourself in the shoes of the characters. They live in a world of constant fear and unease. If the crops fail, they will starve. If somebody gets sick, the nearest doctor is days away. They live on the edge of a forest where that knows what kind of creatures live. They’re all alone. Add on top of that a fear that is persistent through this movie, one that is generated by their faith. These people are deeply religious. They believe wholeheartedly that even thinking about something bad is a sin punishable with eternal damnation and they don’t even have a priest to confess to or a church full of people to help them in their loneliness. They devote their whole lives to God, and still, bad things happen. They have to find explanations for why misfortune still manages to find them and their usual answer is that they were too prideful and needed to be humbled or overlooked a transgression against God. That’s on a regular day. When the plot of “The Witch” kicks in, they find themselves in a hell on Earth that brings whole new terrors that they have no idea how to deal with.

What I really enjoyed about the film is its authenticity. So much of this film is about Thomasin jokingly telling her little sister that she’ll eat her because it will please her new master, and then having that thrown back into her face when things go bad. She’s being metaphorically put on trial and the evidence put forth are innocent things that are being twisted by the heartbreaking events that are plaguing the family and each members’ attempt to rationalize what is going on. If the horror of this film were as simple as a witch flying across the sky, cackling as she threw fireballs to burn down the crops as the family watched helplessly it would be easily understood. The fact that they don’t really know what is going on and are starting to turn on each other is what generates fear. It’s not that the picture is ambiguous about what is happening to these people (there is without a doubt a witch present in this story) It’s that you’re on edge wondering if they are going to be able to make it out ok, or if on their way out they’re going to make a horrible mistake.

I found the film genuinely frightening because of the unpredictable plot. I didn’t know if Thomasin was going to end up saving herself or burned at the stake. I cared about the characters because time is spent getting to know them. I like a movie that lets my imagination fill in the gaps as to what people are thinking and what is going on outside when you realize that there are no crickets chirping, birds calling or leaves fluttering in the wind. What helps is that this picture does not resort to clichés. Not horror movie clichés or witch story clichés. There are no cauldrons boiling with pickled newts, no spells that rhyme or black cats. Writer/director Robert Eggers clearly knows his witch lore and if you do too, you’ll be able to appreciate the effort he has put into making it feel legitimate. The dialogue between the characters, the costumes, the sets, the way people react, the storyline, the way it ultimately turns out… a screen of text at the end says that many pieces of dialogue were taken from real-life accounts of the time. I half expected it to say, “This film is based on a true story”.

“The Witch” has great performances from everyone, including the children and that’s no easy task considering the archaic dialogue they have to deliver. Prepare yourself for a creeping tone that builds as the paranoia grows within the family, a strong conclusion, chilling little bits of subtlety and thought-provoking moments throughout. I’ve been seriously wondering if this family would have been better off if they had been God-fearing but a little bit more relaxed in their teachings so that they could do more than focus on prayer and survival on a day-to-day basis. Does taking a peek at evil once in a while to remind you of what it looks like prepare you in case you ever have to confront it? Is it better to put blinders on and run away yelling “LALALA! ” whenever it rears its ugly face, hoping that if you ignore it, it’ll do the same to you?

I’m sad to say that I think most horror movie fans simply “won’t get” this movie because they’re used to films that rely on sleighs of hand to fool them into thinking that they saw a chilling tale. “The Witch” is made of the stuff we used to get in horror films like “The Exorcist” and “Rosemary’s Baby”. Music, lighting, tone and revelations that you rarely find nowadays in favour of blood baths and doors closing timed to musical cues. I’ll admit that I was thrown off at times by the fact that there weren’t a lot of moments that really made me flail in terror, but I also think it’s a gutsy move to keep the film true to itself. “The Witch” is a horror film, but by saying this, I’m likely giving you expectations that will make you question whether it is or not because it’s so unlike what we’re used to seeing in theatres. This is nothing like “Sinister” or “The Conjuring”, but that’s ok. You need to have variety at the theatre. I really liked “The Witch” and I hope that it finds the audience that will too. For a directorial debut, this is phenomenal. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 24, 2016)