Friday, October 26, 2018

Movie review: The Witch

 
 Living in New England during the 1600's was difficult enough, but even more challenging when the newborn of William and Katherine goes missing. Along with their other four children, the family turns on one another, and as their crops fail a dark evil begins to prey upon them all.

Anya Taylor-Joy (Thomasin), Ralph Ineson (William), Kate Dickie (Katherine), Harvey Scrimshaw (Caleb), Ellie Grainger (Mercy), Lucas Dawson (Jonas), Bathsheba Garnett (The Witch), Sarah Stephens (Young Witch).

The Witch is an interesting tale that blends together several pieces of New England folklore from the 1600's very obviously. With the disappearance of the newborn, the idea a witch may somehow be involved is raised and the family begins to turn on one another. As their fears grow, so do their accusations and their actions take a dark turn. The film winds down with an interesting twist.

Acting was decent with Taylor-Joy delivering very well. Ineson was solid with nice emotion, while Dickie was perfectly disturbing. Scrimshaw, Grainger, and Dawson all showed good skills and seemed to work well with others.

Camera work, sets, and backgrounds were sparse but fit the film nicely. Action scenes were well done with just the right amount of detail. Dialogue was a challenge with unusual language and difficult accents. Subtitles are your friend with this one. Sound and soundtrack are appropriately melancholy.

Though the ending helped quite a lot, this one is fairly slow moving much of the time. Those familiar with 1600's New England folklore should enjoy this one. Other will miss those subtle cues. Fans of less violent and more suspenseful supernatural thrillers should enjoy this one.

With some nudity, violence, gore, foul language, and disturbing scenes, older teens and above should be fine with this film.

Released: 2015
Reviewed: 10.19.18
Star rating: 2 out of 5
Genre: Horror, Supernatural Horror, Thriller, Supernatural Thriller, Mystery

copyright ©2018 Dave Riedel

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