February 19, 2016

The Witch (2015).


Review #780: The Witch.

Cast
Anya Taylor-Joy (Thomasin), Ralph Ineson (William), Kate Dickie (Katherine), Harvey Scrimshaw (Caleb), Ellie Grainger (Mercy), Lucas Dawson (Jonas), and Bathsheba Garnett (The Witch) Directed by Robert Eggers.

Review
It's been a week since the last review, so on a whim, I decided to look up films in the theater. Of the new ones in release, this one popped up that I hadn't heard of. After a bit of searching over what it was (including the fact that it had premiered at Sundance the year before), I decided to go see this film on a whim. Even though there were only a handful of people there to see with me, the movie was worth the price of admission. The movie (set in the 17th century) certainly has a good atmosphere and setting, while managing to have a fairly entertaining group of characters and not trying cliche techniques to scare the audience. The dialogue (which according to the credits is based off real journals and accounts of the time) takes a bit of time to get used to, but the actors manage to sell the movie and make the characters very believable. The child actors (Scrimshaw, Grainger and Dawson) are not too annoying, and they share a critical scene (Along with Taylor-Joy) that manages to be creepy. The movie certainly does take its time to get going, but the movie eventually gets its footing on the strength of the family dynamic and the interactions between all of them. It's not a movie to watch for blood/gore, but for the creepy tone that it manages to set up with such a simple premise. It's not a great horror film, but it is at least an entertaining movie that keeps itself going from beginning to end.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

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