The Witch

I literally don’t know what I can add. It’s fantastic and I get enthralled with it every time. But, because I haven’t seen this movie in a while, I figure that I’d better try to describe why it’s so good.  So for a start, like any great horror movie, it isn’t really about the horror thing, but about the struggles of the characters and how those are exemplified and represented by the horror elements of the story. In this case, it’s religion, society, family, development, and desire. They’re all very tactfully woven into the narrative in deliberate and visible ways but are never anywhere near intrusive to the story or the emotions of the story. At its heart, it’s a family drama made within a horror film and the difficulties that the family goes through and the way that things fall apart. Of course, I love the technical aspects too. The cinematography is really good, even great, and never falls below that mark, remaining very visually consistent and maintaining that level of mastery throughout the film. The editing is fluid, deliberate, and does a great job of not letting moments get away too soon or overstay their welcome. The production design and overall presentation is awesome at keeping you in the period and not getting in the way. The score is a touch too much at times, but it’s mostly really perfect at ratcheting up the tension without forcing emotion on you. The performances are all stellar, even the goddamn children. That’s hard to do man. But then the parents and Anya are all great, giving perfect powerhouse performances in scene after scene. The standout technical aspect though has to be the writing. It’s in period dialect, sounds like something that real people would say, and the story flows in such a realistic and deliberate way that it’s impressive that it was made up. The only explicit issues I can think of are the budgetary limitations making it clearly boxed in at times and that it cuts to black a couple too many times. These are issues that don’t really feel noticeable though in the grand scheme of things and when you’re in the flow of the movie, it’s only really at a moment or two where it drags at all.  So if you couldn’t guess, I’d highly highly recommend this film. It’s fantastic and one of my all time favorites.  TL;DR - “Did ye make some unholy bond with that goat?” is one of the best lines ever written and you can’t prove me wrong