The VVItch Review

This a short review because when writing this I come down with a head cold.

In 1973 William Friedkin presented us with The Exorcist and in 1980 Stanley Kubrick gave us The Shining. Both films have slow build ups around the unexplained and supernatural, both are also built around the relationships in a family. Now in 2016, Robert Eggers has given us an heir to both in the form of The Witch.

The start of the movie tells us that this is a 'New-England folktale' and it doesn't lie. Eggers conjures up a haunting tale of how witchcraft (of which we see little of) takes its toll on a family that has been excommunicated by their Puritan colony in New England. There are no real jump cuts to be found here and it really makes for a more haunting experience. To take place of the cliched scary-jump-cut scenes are scenes of a thought provoking nature, character and plot development.

Powerful imagery here is key to the story, especially since most of the movie is shot with natural light and presented in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio. It gives the feeling of claustrophobia. The dialogue in the film is presented as if it actually came from 17th century and it may take you a bit to get to understand.

Most directors of horror films will use jump scares to terrify its audience. Eggers uses the aforementioned imagery along with believable characters. He continuously beats the audience until the end of the movie and by the time it's over we feel relieved of the spell like directing, even if you probably want to see it again. Eggers has plenty of shot| reverse shot dialogue but he doesn't fall into the tropes of his contemporaries, whether that be horror, action or drama movies. Instead he blocks his characters in a way that adds a dramatic flare to the movie.

Eggers and cinematographer Jarin Blaschke used mostly natural light, which Blaschke has admitted too. This really lets the environment around our characters become a character in ways in the movie. Along the aspect ratio the pair work together to limit the characters options.

The characters could easily feel like archetypes of the time but the women in the film are where the film sets itself apart. They play an important part within the story.

When watching this movie I had the inevitable thought of that there will so many haters for this film and man, was I right. People claimed the story was boring but please make sure you are ready to invest yourself in this movie when you watch it. If you aren't convinced by my review, the 90% on Rotten Tomatoes and 83/100 on Metacritic maybe some horror maestros explain.

Stephen King - "The Witch scared the hell out of me. And it's a real movie, tense and thought-provoking as well as visceral"

and

Brian Keene - "The Witch is a gorgeous, thoughtful, scary horror film that 90% of the people in the theater with you will be too stupid to understand"

Overall Score: 10/10 (I have decided to use a 10 point system for a movie's score, for more info look at my about page)

What did you think of The Witch? Did you make you take up satanic rituals?

The movie is in limited release in Sydney

Director: Robert Eggers

Writer: Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie and Harvey Scrimshaw

Cinematography: Jarin Blaschke

Editor: Louise Ford

Music/Score: Mark Korven