The Witch

[Spiral]

This movie really is excellent

[Malachi_Constant]

I think what's so fascinating about this horror film is that the horror works both ways. On one hand, the director is approaching it as "what if the Puritans fears were actually true" angle, which makes for some pretty terrifying, baby-eating witchery. On the other hand, the actions of Thomasin's family, and their beliefs, are absolutely horrific in their own right. It creates a tense, oppressed environment for a girl who is budding into womanhood.

The end can be viewed both ways. The look of ecstasy on her face as she floats upward, free from the tyrannical Puritan lifestyle almost looks like a happy ending. But yet, it isn't, because what she will become is monstrous.

It's also horrific to me because it seems that Thomasin never had a choice. The Puritan lifestyle would demand that as a woman she would be a second-class citizen, married off to whomever her family chose. As for joining the coven, it seemed that it was preordained from the start, as if they chose her ahead of time. The baby was stolen under her watch, causing a rift between her and the rest of the family. Black Philip seemed to use the twins to further the rift, and in the end Thomasin was not really left with a choice. Returning to town she surely would have been accused of causing her family's demise. If she tried to stay alone on the farmstead she would most likely starve to death, the same fate she would probably meet if she struck off anywhere else.

Brilliant flick.

[bendk]

I lucked out. The Witch opened earlier in the year, but was at theaters for only two or three weeks so I didn't get a chance to go. Much to my surprise it reopened again this week. I made sure not to miss out this time. I thought it was an excellent film. There was a strong undercurrent of sexuality running through it between almost all of the characters. Be it from the eldest son and the father being attracted to Thomasin, to the mothers resentment of this. And then there was Black Phillip, of course.

I just got a copy of Rue Morgue Magazine that features the film on its cover.

My stupid 'copy and paste' feature stopped working or I would have posted an image.

I also thought this was pretty funny.

http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/33...-toy-was-real/

[miguel1984]

I just have returned from the movie theater. Now I need to add a new film to my list of favorites.

I love that it is a half horror, half family drama film, with a really upsetting dynamic, not just the sexual tension between brother and sister, but the mistrust shown by the little ones to their older sister and the ever-present misogyny, among other things, with the puritan mindset as a background informing all of it.

I also love the fact the film is supposedly based on accounts and journals of the time.

Oh, and that music... that music.

All in all, a great night for horror, since Roger Corman's House of Usher is on the TV right now.

Just... wow.

Wow Bob Wow - YouTube

I finally saw it! It's a very good movie, although I don't think it's a modern horror masterpiece like Kill List or Antichrist. Mark Kermode's review said that he felt the film was very ambiguous as to whether the supernatural element was real or not, but I didn't feel that way at any point through the movie and thought the story was a simple one but very well executed. I thought it came pretty clearly down on the supernatural side from the first happenings.

I would have liked more ambiguity, which would have been lent to the film if we were shown the witch less explicitly at the beginning.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

How did you see it?

What part would you want to be ambiguous?

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

What part would you want to be ambiguous?

It's a very fine film already, and markedly superior to It Follows and the vast majority of horror films, but personally I thought the early reveal of the witch and her gruesome baby juice antics rid the story of potential mystery, and I found it odd that after that the film tried to play coy with what the threat looked like and what it was. I'm not sure I'm making sense, but alas it was a structural element that stopped it from earning a perfect score from me. It sounds like I'm being anal, but it had wider implications on the structure of the mystery and its tension, which I felt would have been superior with that part removed entirely.

Then again, I'm also somebody who likes that we don't see the witch in The Blair Witch Project.

[Spiral]

Quote Originally Posted by James Sucellus

I finally saw it! It's a very good movie, although I don't think it's a modern horror masterpiece like Kill List or Antichrist. Mark Kermode's review said that he felt the film was very ambiguous as to whether the supernatural element was real or not, but I didn't feel that way at any point through the movie and thought the story was a simple one but very well executed. I thought it came pretty clearly down on the supernatural side from the first happenings. I would have liked more ambiguity, which would have been lent to the film if we were shown the witch less explicitly at the beginning.

I disagree. I don't see it being more ambiguous improving this movie, it would probably hurt it's pacing. It's really great as it is. I also felt that it dealed with some of the subject matter of Antichrist quite better than that film (which I sadly quite disliked).

I need to see Kill List again, absolutely loved that movie, it is a masterpiece I feel too

I agree The Witch is great as it is. I just think I'd find it even better if they had held back showing the witch for a little longer.

[Coa]

High-Rise is even worse than Kill List!. Witch is pretty good.