A24 really knows how to nail those family dinner scenes, huh? I remember seeing the trailer for this film a few years back and thinking of how generic it seemed with its setting and seemingly dull plot. Boy, was I wrong. The Witch is an absolutely incredible horror film that touches on all the wrong nerves in the most bone-chilling ways possible. This film comes across as a terrifying combination of the elegance of Shakespeare, the religious horror of Ari Aster, and the eerie staleness of Kubrick. These elements, along with an amazing performance from Anya Taylor-Joy, make way for one of the most engaging and nervewracking horror films that I have ever seen.
This film follows a peasant family in 17th century New England after they are ostracized from their local church community and forced to start their own farm out in the forest. William (Ralph Ineson) and Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their five children struggle to survive the cold winter and when a mysteriously evil force arrives in the forest, they must try to figure out who or what it is that is beginning to tear apart their entire family. Since the setting and environment of this film is already haunting enough as is, it is hard to imagine that a complicated plot would be needed to make this story terrifying. However, Eggers' writing did not disappoint in any of those aspects. Adapted from an old English folktale and using actual dialogue from transcripts of the supposed events, the script is just as entrancing as it is anxiety-inducing. The narrative followed the oldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) as she ends up being accused of haunting the family and bringing them all death and misfortune. Selecting her as the main character, as opposed to her parents or siblings, was a great choice as the audience is able to see what unfolds through her lens. Taylor-Joy's performance was the greatest piece of this film and was absolutely the glue that held the story together so well; she nailed the voices, inflections, and troubles that a young girl of this time might be feeling. The plot is fairly typical as the film goes along, hitting every usual beat that a horror film of this magnitude would be expected to, but it is the language that I believe adds to the horror. Since this film is set in the 1630s, the entirety of the dialogue is old English and while it is hard to comprehend at times, it does not detract from its effect; quite the opposite, actually. This made the audience take a lot from context clues and the atmosphere that was built to get their good scares in which did not disappoint.
Eggers' directing paired with his writing makes for some next-level horror that crawls inside you and is not afraid to take control. I constantly found my leg bouncing or some other part of me physically reacting to the tension that he was able to build and this for me, while horrifying, is what makes a film of this genre so enjoyable. The religious context of this movie also plays a huge part in making this movie so scary. Playing with heaven and hell, angels and demons, and old, religious cults are very unsettling and the use of these themes are always able to get one's heart pumping. Sprinkle in the fact that there are a group of evil witches kidnapping children and drinking the blood of the innocent and you've got a petrifying premise down. I can see now where Ari Aster got a lot of his inspiration for the narrative throughout Hereditary, including the religious subplot and mind-bending ending. None of these horror aspects would have been nearly effective, however, if it wasn't for Mark Korven's score. His use of women's choruses and rising clusters of voices was extremely scary in the scenes that they laid upon. While the music was mostly used for the most intense scenes and transitions, he did excellent in terms of physically making me shake. The last time a film did this to me was when I first watched 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick's use of music in that movie not only furthers the plot but adds to the horrifying environment around it. The Witch used its music in the exact same way. It made me almost nauseous thinking about the foreshadowing and eerie elements that were affected by the music; Korven's score could make a stock photo of a sunny day make you want to sleep with the lights on for the rest of your life.
The Witch is a horrifying and personal horror film that, unfortunately, does not do much to break the stereotype of goats harnessing the spirit of the devil. This movie is an incredible telling of the New England folktale that I can see now has terrified people for generations. I would absolutely recommend this fantastic film, just make sure that you aren't planning on going outdoors anytime soon.
My Rating: ★★★★½
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