Review of The Witch (2016) by Tjman09 — 24 Feb 2016

The Witch is a good movie, but it also has a very narrow audience. For those that love slow, yet tense, horror films that are as bizarre as they are scary, this film is for you. The Witch is unnerving, super realistic, and wacky to a fault. I will say that the film’s writer and director Robert Eggers did an amazing job for a directorial debut, and he is undoubtedly a force to watch in the future.

From the opening scene of the film to the very end the film is unnerving. The film is quite slow, but never really boring, because the filmmakers did a great job creating a very tense tone. The tone is essentially formed from three major elements of the movie, the bone-chilling music, the ominous cinematography (especially in the forest), and the always noticeable presence of darkness lurking. In this film the titular character isn’t in the film often, but their presence is felt. Combine that with the excruciating attention to detail, and the film takes on a sense of reality.

The film is extremely realistic, and that is because Eggers took the time, and had the attention to detail to make the film as realistic as possible. While the dialogue may distract some, it is exactly how people used to talk in the colonial era. The lighting is usually dim, but is to is realistic as the film is literally made to look as if it’s being lit by candlelight or moonlight. The actors were on point, most likely due to great direction, and the sets were almost exactly what one would expect things to look like back then. That kind of dedication, deserves respect, but it also helps the audience get lost in the filmic world.

However, the film is downright wacky, and in some ways that’s great, and in others it hurt the film a little. The film is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, in an interview Eggers said his original pitch was “too weird, or too obscure” considering the film he made, I want to see that film because this one was wonderfully obscure and weird. However, the film was a little hard to follow, at times it felt as though too many things would happen in a short period filled with moments of confusion, which did help reinforce the insanity the characters were growing into, but made it harder to follow.

It may not have helped the film, but as an observation, the film was devoid of humor. In the end, the film is original, unnerving, realistic, very well made, but does have an obscure feeling to it. The cinematography is beautiful, the filmmakers had an amazing attention to detail, and horror fans will most likely like the film. If you like the wacky, weird, obscure horror films that don’t rely on cliches and jump scares, check this film out.