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The Witch - Is it a horror movie or a horrifying movie?
The Witch is the mainstream directorial debut of Robert Eggers, and, what a start! This film is being categorized as horror movie, but I don’t think that is exactly right. It certainly is scary, creepy and full of suspense, but the usual cheesy devices of horror moves are not present. Instead, the horror is that of the human mind, pressed to the extremes of physical and emotional stress. The Witch is set around 1630, in early New England, decades before the famous Salem Witch Trials. The story begins when the family of William (Ralph Ineson) is exiled from a puritan compound for theological crimes that are not specifically described. Like much of the puritan community of that time, the family includes William, a bible-quoting patriarch, with a wife, Katherine (Kate Dickie) and 5 children, the oldest of which is teen-aged Thomasin (Anna Taylor-Joy). William is terrified of an outer darkness, the scary forest beyond the village, possibly inhabited by unseen hostile Native Americans, wild animals, witches, demons and everything else that the mind can imagine. The family is completely alone, with no help from the village. It is also cold, gray, winter is coming, food and firewood are needed and they have to build their own house with nothing to protect them except their prayers and a cumbersome matchlock musket. The evil begins when Thomasin, their adolescent daughter, is taking care of her youngest sister, the new baby, and, all of a sudden, the baby disappears. There are brief hints of witches in the woods, evil women who can change from seductresses to naked crones, possibly eating babies. A frantic search begins and things only get worse from there. The kids are terrified, Katherine is grief stricken over the loss of the baby and William is overwhelmed with the realization that he can not protect his wife and children, a sacred duty he takes very seriously as a patriarch. It seems like the powers of hell are intent on bringing them down.
This is really an interesting film in several ways. As I said, it’s not really a horror movie. Nothing in the movie is entirely clear, including the reality of the horror. The forest does seem to harbor evil, but it’s never seen for more than an instant. Even in the context of these terrified, superstitious puritans, there’s no clear, objective reality to the horror. As the viewers, we don’t know whether the “monster” is really there, or whether it’s the mental projection of these traumatized people. The Witch is entirely fictional, but the events in the story are basically what was reported as “fact” by the people who suffered from the events in Massachusetts in the period that culminated in the infamous witch trials. Baby stealing, people waking up with bite marks, barnyard animals being possessed by evil spirits, spoiled grain, people having convulsions that caused them to levitate are all events that were accepted in court as evidence during the trials. The “culprits” in those trials, as well as many of the accusers, were mostly women, labelled as witches, communing with Satan, holding evil ceremonies in the forest, being able to fly, all mortal terrors for those early colonists. We look back on that period, not understanding how any rational person could believe in such things, but the simple fact is that they DID. They were people just like us, but their beliefs made all this madness seem like fact. In this paranoid environment, accusations seemed like truth and denials insured guilt.
I thought that The Witch was a terrific movie, far more unsettling than the usual horror fare of monsters, vampires and mutant teenagers. I can walk away from most horror movies, realizing that I probably won’t encounter anything that happened in that movie. In the case of The Witch, however, I walk away thinking that, put in that situation, I don’t know that I would react any differently than William. That’s far scarier than dinosaurs trashing Tokyo or mutant worms. Nothing in this film is certain; we don’t really KNOW whether there is or is not a witch. People’s minds can contort reality in truly amazing ways and spirits were real to them. The uncertainty of anything in this story really makes the film work. Acting is excellent by all of the cast. I don’t know any of the actors. The production is very minimal, with little in the way of effects, nothing but the forest and fear. The sparse ancient Swedish string music is used excellently. Cinematography is excellent in its minimalism, full of close-up fear, and cold grayness. I see that The Witch was a Sundance pick, from the production company A24, who also produced the equally disturbing Room last year. Don’t miss it.
The Witch is the mainstream directorial debut of Robert Eggers, and, what a start! This film is being categorized as horror movie, but I don’t think that is exactly right. It certainly is scary, creepy and full of suspense, but the usual cheesy devices of horror moves are not present. Instead, the horror is that of the human mind, pressed to the extremes of physical and emotional stress. The Witch is set around 1630, in early New England, decades before the famous Salem Witch Trials. The story begins when the family of William (Ralph Ineson) is exiled from a puritan compound for theological crimes that are not specifically described. Like much of the puritan community of that time, the family includes William, a bible-quoting patriarch, with a wife, Katherine (Kate Dickie) and 5 children, the oldest of which is teen-aged Thomasin (Anna Taylor-Joy). William is terrified of an outer darkness, the scary forest beyond the village, possibly inhabited by unseen hostile Native Americans, wild animals, witches, demons and everything else that the mind can imagine. The family is completely alone, with no help from the village. It is also cold, gray, winter is coming, food and firewood are needed and they have to build their own house with nothing to protect them except their prayers and a cumbersome matchlock musket. The evil begins when Thomasin, their adolescent daughter, is taking care of her youngest sister, the new baby, and, all of a sudden, the baby disappears. There are brief hints of witches in the woods, evil women who can change from seductresses to naked crones, possibly eating babies. A frantic search begins and things only get worse from there. The kids are terrified, Katherine is grief stricken over the loss of the baby and William is overwhelmed with the realization that he can not protect his wife and children, a sacred duty he takes very seriously as a patriarch. It seems like the powers of hell are intent on bringing them down.
This is really an interesting film in several ways. As I said, it’s not really a horror movie. Nothing in the movie is entirely clear, including the reality of the horror. The forest does seem to harbor evil, but it’s never seen for more than an instant. Even in the context of these terrified, superstitious puritans, there’s no clear, objective reality to the horror. As the viewers, we don’t know whether the “monster” is really there, or whether it’s the mental projection of these traumatized people. The Witch is entirely fictional, but the events in the story are basically what was reported as “fact” by the people who suffered from the events in Massachusetts in the period that culminated in the infamous witch trials. Baby stealing, people waking up with bite marks, barnyard animals being possessed by evil spirits, spoiled grain, people having convulsions that caused them to levitate are all events that were accepted in court as evidence during the trials. The “culprits” in those trials, as well as many of the accusers, were mostly women, labelled as witches, communing with Satan, holding evil ceremonies in the forest, being able to fly, all mortal terrors for those early colonists. We look back on that period, not understanding how any rational person could believe in such things, but the simple fact is that they DID. They were people just like us, but their beliefs made all this madness seem like fact. In this paranoid environment, accusations seemed like truth and denials insured guilt.
I thought that The Witch was a terrific movie, far more unsettling than the usual horror fare of monsters, vampires and mutant teenagers. I can walk away from most horror movies, realizing that I probably won’t encounter anything that happened in that movie. In the case of The Witch, however, I walk away thinking that, put in that situation, I don’t know that I would react any differently than William. That’s far scarier than dinosaurs trashing Tokyo or mutant worms. Nothing in this film is certain; we don’t really KNOW whether there is or is not a witch. People’s minds can contort reality in truly amazing ways and spirits were real to them. The uncertainty of anything in this story really makes the film work. Acting is excellent by all of the cast. I don’t know any of the actors. The production is very minimal, with little in the way of effects, nothing but the forest and fear. The sparse ancient Swedish string music is used excellently. Cinematography is excellent in its minimalism, full of close-up fear, and cold grayness. I see that The Witch was a Sundance pick, from the production company A24, who also produced the equally disturbing Room last year. Don’t miss it.