D Robert Eggers | Canada, USA, 2015
The Witch is a creepy, intense thriller set in early 1600’s New England in America. The opening soundtrack is very similar to There Will Be Blood, and sets the tone for the entire film. The use of music in this film is brilliant and works well with the editing.
The editing is used in conjunction with the music to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. There are several cuts mixed with the movements of actors that are unexpected. The story is enticing and the cinematography portrays grey, dark, dreary landscape and the framing plays around with audience expectations, suggesting that there is something looming just outside the frame.
The themes include isolation and paranoia, and reality versus fantasy. There are scenes which are almost straight out of a fairy-tale contrasted with elements of horror.
The story is very intense from the outset, a family including mother Katherine (Kate Dickie) and father, William (Ralph Ineson), along with their children, including their daughter, Thomasin played by Anya Taylor-Joy are ostracised and are forced to live on the outskirts of a massive forest. Family tensions rise when their baby goes missing and things start going downhill from there. The tension is sustained well throughout the film as things gradually keep getting worse.
I would definitely recommend this film to thriller and horror buffs.
