The Witch

I love getting recommendations. I've been trying to increase my exposure to horror movies, especially in this Halloween season. I don't like jump scares but I do like the creepy uneasy vibe that I get from movies like The Shining or Get Out. I was talking with my friend about these kinds of movies and he recommended The Witch (or The VVitch I guess). While I'm probably going to try and continue this trend of horror movies past Halloween, I thought I'd get a couple of horror films in before the end of the month. The Witch was a phenomenal choice for my particular horror tastes.

From the beginning, The Witch is described as a New England Folktale. It takes place in the 1630s and centers on a family that has come to the wilderness of North America from England and has been exiled from the plantation they were living on. So they go out into the middle of the woods and start a new life for themselves.

After some time of living on their own, some tragic circumstances start happening and the family starts to suspect that they're being haunted by a witch in the woods outside their land. The result is a really creepy period piece that I dug almost all the way through.

The main character of the story is the oldest daughter Thomasin (played by Anya Taylor-Joy). The head of the family is her father William (played by Ralph Ineson) with her mother Katherine (played by Kate Dickie). Thomasin has a younger brother named Caleb (played by Harvey Scrimshaw) and a pair of younger twins.

The catalyst to this misfortune and haunting comes when the family's infant son Samuel disappears literally from under Thomasin's nose and this adds an element of both family turmoil and tension, but also a sense of the unknown as the story leaves it a little ambiguous what or who is actually the root cause of this haunting.

I feel like I'm going to gush over this movie a little bit so I'll talk about the things I didn't like first.

So this is the epitome of a period piece because they literally talk in old English. I'm not gonna say I absolutely hated it because it was unique and it added to the realism of the period and it made me have to pay attention, but I could see it get a little bit confusing, especially when some big reveals come out, the Old English can hinder the story a little bit. I didn't watch the movie with subtitles but a part of me actually thinks that might help.

Another thing that wasn't so much an issue for me for the most part but might be for others is the fact that this is less a scary movie than it is a Indie movie with some horror elements to it. This is perfect for me because I enjoy the story of horror movies more than being scared. I was for sure scared in this movie, but in comparison with other horror movies and the mainstream horror audience, I get the feeling it's pretty tame.

The last thing is that there are a couple moments where things are a little slow. Because I'm on edge at all times during horror films I was wired throughout, but if you're more accustomed to horror films and a drab slow period piece isn't going to keep you interested, this movie might put you to sleep at moments or might be boring.

I'm more projecting at this point because I really enjoyed this film but I get the feeling that others might have a different view of it.

Now those are all the things that the movie has against it, I want to talk about the points that I really liked in this movie.

Like I said, I enjoy horror movies more for their stories rather than the scares. If you throw in a supernatural element or mysterious plot points that contribute to a creepy atmosphere to a really good story, you have me hooked. That's why this movie was really up my alley.

The performances from everyone in this cast was great. Like I said, the Old English could potentially be distracting for people, but I think it works because these actors don't let it hurt their performance. They work it phenomenally and once you get used to it it does add to the period piece environment that movie is going for.

The scary parts of the film, and there are a lot of them, don't rely on jump scares but instead rely on building the tension and just creating an eerie and uneasy environment. But furthermore, it's able to take the naturally scary parts of frontier living and combines it with a supernatural force haunting this family. Anya Taylor-Joy does a really good job in this film because she's able to be both a "scream queen" as the typical victim throughout the film, but she also conveys a lot of drama with being the black sheep of this family.

I heard in another review that this movie is essentially The Shining set in the 1600s and I couldn't agree more with that sentiment. I think that's why I liked it, because it accomplishes a lot of the same goals and atmosphere similar to potentially my favorite horror movie of all time.

Overall, The Witch is a really solid supernatural horror period piece that doesn't rely on a whole lot of jump scares to accomplish its goal. Instead it relies on good story telling, and developing a tension filled creepy atmosphere.

If you're like me and you like horror movies with a creepy atmosphere and don't like jumpscares, I highly recommend this film. If you're a more mainstream horror movie consumer, I still recommend you check this one out, but that does go with the disclaimer that it might not be exactly what you think it's gonna be. I still believe you'll get a lot out of the film, but maybe not exactly what you went in expecting.

But those are my thoughts on The Witch. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! Also, if you're aware of other really good horror movies that don't rely on jump scares, feel free to share your recommendations in the comment section or on Twitter @MovieSymposium. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!