The Witch

I first heard about this film on youtube. It would often pop up in reviews and top lists. I recommend you not to believe the hype and watch the movie with an open mind. Otherwise you risk being disappointed like I was.

The source material for this movie is amazing. Folktales are a horror goldmine and it's a shame you don't see it being used so often. The movie draws you in with it's original concept and stetting.

The approach to horror itself is very unorthodox in the sense that most horror movies nowadays rely on obscurity or grotesque visuals. This movie shows horror in broad daylight, the camera is steady, there are no monsters, no gore. So what good is it? - Realism. Especially in the supernatural scenes. The rawness of theses scenes is the best part. You're always asking yourself 'is this superstition or is this real?' and 'who is the real villain?'. Of course that's until the charm is ruined by the bullshit ending where those questions are answered in the worst way possible. If they left room for speculation and stuck to the subtle approach I would've given this film a 6 or a 7.

'The Witch' had some good ideas but it's far from perfect. I feel sorry for people who claim that this movie is some 'masterpiece'. Apparently they've been watching only shitty movies this whole time. The cinematography was dry and even felt effortless. I liked the composition in only one shot: the dinner prayer. The picture lacks tonal contrast to compensate the lack of color. It just fails at grasping your attention. Only parts where the dryness benefits the movie are the horror scenes, all the other shots are just tedious and repetitive. Sorry, but it needs to have style or at least some visual value before it can qualify as a 'masterpiece'.

The actors did a great job. My favorite was Kate Dickie as Katherine who I think came off as more threatening then the actual witch.

You can tell that 'The Witch' was heavily inspired by Stanley Kubrick's work (sadly Eggers doesn't take notes from his shot composition though). Not only has it similar motives to 'The Shining' but also a soundtrack that resembles Ligeti's 'Requiem' form '2001 Space Odyssey'.