The Witch (or, The VVitch: A New England Folk-tale) is the 2015 directorial début of Robert Eggers, and follows a Puritan family whose lives are terrorised by a witch, ultimately leading to the family's downfall. I want to start by saying that I loved this film. It really played with traditional tropes of witchcraft and storytelling, and that was what made it so interesting. It really was a folk-tale.
It should be noted; spoilers.
I'd heard a lot of complaints, about how the film wasn't scary, and how it wasn't a horror, but oh boy it was. It was a horror in a very different sense to the one we are used to; nowadays, horror involves jump scares, terrifying monsters and some pretty intense supernatural action, but The Witch employs a more traditional form of horror. It's the tension of genuine fear which makes the story so scary. The world is always a terrifying place, and horror generally reflects the time periods fears (I'm pretty sure Zombie's come from fears over the AID's epidemic, for example) and the 17th century was pretty scary, especially from the point of view of the fact that the time period was mid-witch hunts (which went on from about 1450-1750) and to the deeply religious, witch's were real. They were real and dangerous, and basically the devil's disciples (something Goya painted pretty frequently, also note the Devil being depicted as a Black Goat... Goya was actually an influence on Eggers, which you can read about
here. its a really good article on his influences and research in making the film) and not something to dress your kids up as at the end of October. Eggers also did a good job at fulfilling a lot of the traditional witch tropes; spells made of babies, black goats, bewitched fevers, hare's, etc. the only problem I had with that was that I knew all of them, and it made it a little predictable in places, for me at least.
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Goya- Witches Sabbath.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witches%27_Sabbath_(Goya,_1798)#/media/File:GOYA_-_El_aquelarre_(Museo_L%C3%A1zaro_Galdiano,_Madrid,_1797-98).jpg
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This intense fear spawned a number of folk-tales, and traditionally folk-tales were terrifying, because they played on very real fears of the time. A lot of them seem silly to us now. For example, I'm English, and we have our own pretty cool folklore's. They aren't scary to us anymore, but in their heyday they posed a genuine threat. Take for example, two of my favourites; Black Dogs, and Spring Heeled Jack. Black Dogs were/are nocturnal apparitions said to be the Devil or a Hellhound, and regarded as a portent of death. They were far larger than normal dogs, and had glowing, generally red eyes, and associated with crossroads, execution sites and ancient pathways, and the most well known was Black Shuck, in Suffolk. Spring Heeled Jack was an entity said to terrorise Victorian Britain, with the first sighting being 1837. He was claimed to have strange appearance, being tall and thin, with clawed hands and red eyes, said to be wearing a black cloak over a helmet and tight fitting oilskin. He was blamed for a number of murders and disappearances, not least the infamous Jack the Ripper killings. This is why I maintain that the film is a horror; it even mentions being a folklore in the subtitles, and it does exactly what a folk-tale does. Eggers even did a lot of research into New England folk-tales in the process of making the film.
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| http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sundance-a24-acquires-hot-horror-762174 |
The story is told brilliantly, with it's 'ye olde' style dialogue really bringing you into the time period. But what I wanted to mention was the visuals. there were a lot of references to artworks and history within it, and a lot of just beautifully shot scenes. There is a scene in which the family are settling down for a meal, praying, with the long haired, bearded father at the head of the table. It's moments before and argument breaks out, and the scene its self is reminiscent of depictions of the last supper. The religious links the films pulls you into really show the Christian narrative the characters exist in; the father, who fills in for Jesus' position at this point, had the family exiled from their settlement, and scorned the others for not following God's word properly, whilst he did such. the connection is loose, but it's definitely there.
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| http://www.wolfinagorillasuit.com/2015/09/the-witch-trailer-analysis.html |
Another is when Thomasin is the last one left of her family, and faces her destiny. She removes her blood-splattered dress with dirty hands, leaving her naked and covered in her mother's blood, before being led to her new coven. All of the witches are naked; it's a tradition in folklore, because nakedness is associated with sin and shame, and witches are considered to be in league with the devil. Their general existence is sin, so they have to look the part to really home that point in. This also leads to one of the most iconic scenes of the film, one which is adapted for one of the posters, in which her silhouette is highlighted by the moon as she walks into clearing. The way light and silhouette is used is really effective.
