Director Robert Eggers
Genre Horror
Cast Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw
Rating R
Release Date February 19th, 2016
“A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.”
The Witch is the directorial debut for production designer and costume designer Robert Eggers, who is widely known for his obsessive attention to detail. Sometimes a fresh take on a struggling genre is precisely what viewers need and deserve and The Witch aimed to be exactly that. Premiering at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where Eggers won the Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic category, The Witch follows a Puritan family in 1630’s New England who encounter forces of evil beyond their isolated farm.
I consider myself to be a horror fan right down to my very core, dating back to my youth with a genuine appreciation for the slasher genre of horror films. I still enjoy slasher films but as an adult I now seek horror films that can instill a feeling of genuine fear and psychological distress rarely found today. The Witch is certainly a needle in the haystack. Right out of the gate The Witch is dark, ominous, unsettling, and borderline traumatizing while setting a permanent tone of despair. Genuine fear is that feeling on the back of your neck making your skin crawl, the feeling that tells you to look away while at the same time creating a desire to experience everything happening right before your eyes.
The acting in The Witch is top-notch and it makes for a genuinely convincing period piece. Granted, I will need to watch it a second time to catch some of the dialogue I missed due to the strong English accents but that is par for the course if you ask me. It is nearly impossible to individually credit the performances of the relatively unknown cast because a weak spot does not exist. I was in awe of the performances during the entire film. Robert Eggers makes his mark with extraordinary costume design and production design. His attention to detail could quite possibly be the best I have personally experienced. The Witch shines in many important categories of filmmaking, and it would be a travesty (at least in my opinion) if it does not receive its fair share of nominations next year.
The Witch is a deeply satisfying, slow burn style horror film that has earned its place in the horror genre. It will surely follow you home from the theater, crawl into bed next to you, and enter your nightmares in an all-consuming fashion. A market will always exist for viewers that crave cheap jump scares and recycled scripts but fans of true horror deserve to be acknowledged and finally something worthwhile is here. The Witch is an intimate portrayal of a family’s battle with true evil and is not for the faint of heart. You have been warned.
