It's an undated time when America is barely colonized. A small family is banished from the city for religious betrayal or some such thing. It's hard to know for sure especially as the opening shot is of the magistrates of the town sentencing the family to leave at once. We see the reactions of the father's children. They are young, confused, willing to follow their parents and yet unsure of what the implications are. With little more than a wagon loaded, the family departs and sets up a small farm on the edge of a dark forest. Al is well.
If you have seen the trailer, you know the general feel of the film. What surprised me was how quickly the film jumped into the thick of the terror, as the infant baby is kidnapped before their oldest daughter's eyes. Perhaps it was a wolf, and through frantic searches, they give up hope as the baby is known to be dead by either animals or hunger. The next-youngest, a set of twins who playfully run throughout the farm, claim to know stories of 'the witch of the wood.' It's laughed off.
When I recall to mind great horror movies, I think of moments that catch you off guard, where you as an audience member are generally frightened for what is about to happen. These movies follow no cliched plotlines nor are they predictable by any means. In The Witch, I was led on a journey that was so terrifying if only because the audience knows something that the family does not: there is a witch, indeed.
Our first introduction to her is a scene so disturbing and eerie that my mouth hung open the entire scene. It's not long after the baby goes missing. There are a few shots as we see the witch mostly in shadows, as she goes about business that takes fear to a new level. The imagery coupled with some extremely Kubrick-ian music (think 2001: A Space Odyssey), this becomes a film so drenched with tone and darkness that it draws your attention even in the quietest of scenes.
I really don't want to say too much more about the story, except that the family grows to suspect the eldest daughter for a variety of coincidental reasons. Though we know there is a satanic force lurking in the trees, the majority of the films turns inward as we watch a family devoted to God unravel with suspicion and fear. It's a believable family, with the father a kind and compassionate man, his wife God-fearing and unhinged, and children that are raised to know little more than good versus evil and His Holy Word.
Robert Eggers directed and wrote the film in an astonishing debut as a filmmaker. There is a confidence in his style that already feels like it comes from a master. The performances he draws out of his small cast (especially the children) are remarkable, and at times this feels like a movie that is already a classic in the horror genre. My sole concerns (and deductions in the rating) come from the film's ending, one that feels cheap and unneeded for a movie so layered with style. It's a film that uses no special effects until the very last moments, and even then, was it really necessary? The final moments also contain a reveal that shows the truth hidden throughout the entire film, and even then, perhaps a bit of ambiguity wouldn't have hurt.
The Babadook. It Follows. The Witch. Year after year we have seen a select group of films that simply redefine psychological horror, and they are few and far between. The trailers beforehand included two or three movies billed as being scary yet appear to be little more than slasher films with buckets of gore and fake blood. When will filmmakers learn that it isn't blood that frightens an audience, it is the unknown. Do not miss this movie.
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