User blog:AustinDR/The Witch (2016) Review


 * 'The Witch is a 2015 American-Canadian horror film that was written/directed by Robert Eggers; it is notably his debut to film-making. The film is based on those old folktales pertaining to witches, and the like.


 * In the 17th century, William, the patriarch of a Puritan family, is expelled from his plantation due to religious differences. They eventually come upon a large forest which they come to call home. Thomasin (played by Anya-Taylor Joy), the protagonist of the film, babysits her brother, Samuel, and decides to play "where's the baby" with him. However, when she wasn't looking, the eponymous witch steals away Samuel, and uses him to make an ointment for herself. A few days later, Caleb returns to the house after being missing for a few days, though it seems that he was showing early signs of being tormented by a witch. The family starts to turn on each other, with Thomasin herself being the primary suspect.

Now, I went to the film, because I had heard rumors citing this film as being one of the scariest of this year. Even Stephen King, the Master of Horror, insisted that he was terrified with the film. Obviously, if a well-known representative of the horror genre states that he felt unnerved by a movie, it has got to be good, right? Well, I finished up on my homework yesterday, and my Dad and I went to Corinth to watch a 7:25 showing of the film. I was unimpressed. With all the buzz that the film was accumulating, it actually turns out that it's just one of your standard horror movies. The only scene that legitimately scared me was when William was attacked by Black Phillip, a black, male goat, who turns out to be the Devil towards the end. The weakness that the film suffers from is that it was hyped up too much. To think about it in a different way, when The Exorcist was released back in 1973, it was considered the scariest horror film of the decade. However, when I saw the film on Netflix, it was boring, and the action didn't pick up until towards the third act. In addition, the special effects were outdated, and slightly unconvincing. It's not to say that The Exorcist was a bad film, it's just if I had lived during that time, I would've considered it a truly horrific experience. I feel that in about a few more years, The Witch will be seen in the same light.


 * I also was not a fan with the ending. Spoilers for anyone who hadn't watched the movie yet: Towards the end, after William is gored to death by Black Phillip, Thomasin's mother attacks her, and tries to strangle her to death. Thomasin kills her, and she goes to speak with Black Phillip, who appears to her in the form of her late father. Satan assists Thomasin as she writes her name in his book, and the film ends with her attending a witch ritual. The ending was rather anti-climatic to say the least. What makes the ending bad is that, throughout the film, Thomasin insists that she wasn't bewitching her family members, but towards the end, she almost says "screw it," and she willingly makes a deal with the Devil. My dad tried to explain the ending to me, and while I understand why it came about, I felt unconvinced with how it was executed. I hadn't been that disappointed with an ending of a film since The Boy. Worse is that the Witch doesn't face any repercussions, despite the fact that everything wrong that happened in the movie was because of her. She's still kicking towards the end, performing horrific acts for her master.

What I can say that I liked about the film, however, is that the music was absolutely spine-chilling. The soundtrack clearly establishes the dark atmosphere nicely; you feel an ever-present sense of dread whenever you here just as much as a simple note. The acting is also very good, to the point that the actors seemed to be real people having every day conversations.


 * I would recommend seeing this film for anyone who enjoys horror films. For those who like horror films about witchcraft, I'd recommend seeing The Conjuring, which is supposedly based on a true account, among other supernatural horror films.

Final score:

3 out of 5 stars.