The Witch review: Brilliant, though we never want to see it again.
The Witch review
Screening at the London Film Festival in the First Feature category following a very positive turn at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Robert Egger‘s The Witch is a supernatural horror set the 17th Century.
The film revolves around a Puritan family who have settled on their own in the wilderness of New England. When their new-born son mysteriously disappears, and their other children start to behave in very strange ways. they begin to suspect that their teenage daughter is actually a witch, and as the film progresses, and her actions become even more questionable, the family starts to break apart.
The Witch review
Robert Eggers has carved himself out quite a decent career in the world of film, acting as a production designer on numerous shorts, documentaries and low-budget works, and has even dabbled in costume design too. With The Witch he moves to directing, and his feature debut is an intriguing film that unsettles from the off. Primarily focussing on an ousted family that are quite literally booted out of their Puritan settlement, moving to the more rural surroundings of a country farm-house next to a forest, The Witch attempts to be historically accurate with screenwriter Eggers gathering his research from historical documents, journals and legal records from the early 1600s. The writer/ director also employs thy Olde English tongue of the day, which adds to the freakishness and unsettling tone, as does the muted, dark colour palette of the picture.
The Witch review
The cast is brilliant, especially the younger actors led by Anya Taylor-Joy as the clearly disturbed Thomasin, and Harvey Scrimshaw as her brother Caleb. Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie (Lysa Arryn off of Game of Thrones) are also both excellent (Ineson has the deepest, gravelled, most fantastic voice we’ve ever heard), as are the two other young actors who all work together to deliver one of the most intense ensemble performances of the year so far.
The Witch is a very tough watch, not because of the quality of the film, but the intense subject matter featured. The tone reminds one of, dare I say it, The Exorcist, which is to its credit.
Deeply unsettling, upsetting and intensely stomach churning, The Witch may be one of the bravest and best horror film debuts of recent years. This is an outstanding piece of work from all involved, particularly from Eggers. I loved it, though I never want to see it again.
The Witch review by Paul Heath, October 2015.
The Witch is playing at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival. It will be released in the UK and US in 2016.
