The Witch comes in with lots of hype. Released by A24, the hot US distribution company, The Witch rode lots of early buzz before its opening. I’d like to add a kill to the end of buzz to describe this movie, an overhyped and overdirected ok horror film that boasts 1 or 2 great scenes that caused the word of mouth.
The Witch opens in pre-Salem era New England. A family has left their comfy town to live on the edge of the forest. And that’s where Murphy’s law kicks in. The oldest, Thomason (Anya Taylor-Joy), loses the baby of the family to the woods. The crop goes bad; the family goat keeps escaping, and so forth. Thomasin’s domino-starting incident causes her mother Katherine (Kate Dickie) and father William (Ralph Ineson) to question their oldest daughter’s humanity.
The Witch is drenched in dread. Creepy images and strong setting are used to great effect to suffocate the family in a dire atmosphere. The woods are not full of life, but of a barren thin prickly branches. The sky is disturbingly gray. The Witch may boast the scariest goat in movie history too. The uneasy setting is used in conjunction with the slow-motion train wreck approach. We know something terrible is going to happen, but as we get closer to the darkness, the camera slows down to make you take it all in.
But other than one very disturbing sequence, the director Robert Eggers opts to cut to black for our imagination to decide. These cuts can be effective sparingly, but by overuse they should numb you to the dread of seeing something terrible because save one time, you really don’t. Also, the music is FAR too insistent. Many scenes that would terrify with silence have an undercurrent of discordant cacophony, which gets louder as we near the climax of a moment. Music can take center stage sometimes, but here it undercuts the tension considerably.
The movie is well acted by people using old English, probably for the first time. Anna Taylor-Joy makes a curious scream queen out of Thomasin, as she is conflicted at having to see her parents become villains. Ralph Ineson is great at world weariness as Thomasin’s dad, and Kate Dickie can play bonkers with any actor out there. Harvey Scrimshaw is tragically decent as Thomasin’s younger brother, Caleb. But the star of the film is Black Phillip, the goat on the farm, which is terrifying to look at, especially at night.
The Witch has interesting pieces, but ends up undercutting itself. Much like William, the movie doesn’t know when to stop moving, and just be happy where you are. Makes me wonder if the director had goat issues to come up with the inspiration for this film…