A well made horror gem marred by its horrible message

Rating: 2/10 (24 April 2016)

This is the first time I ever gave a well made movie a vote of 2 due to its horrible message about faith, family and for its satanic undertone.
One point is given for its well-researched, written, directed and acted film. The production value and cinematography are excellent for an indie movie. I applaud the director's effort to stay true to his vision, and perhaps somewhere in there, was a genuine attempt to create a contemporary horror inspired by 'folk tales, fairy tales and true accounts of witch craft' as stated by the pre-credit scene. The director himself has said he wanted to create a horror tale that befitted his home in New England.
The second point is given for the cast's amazing acting, especially Anya Taylor-Joy. She was a revelation to behold, captivating and hypnotizing just like Natalie Portman was in Leon The Professional.
The movie felt like what it would be like if 'The Blair Witch Project' had been directed by Terrence Malick. However, unlike Malick's overarching theme of enlightenment or spiritualism via Nature and its ties with humanity, Egger's The Witch feels like the Bizarro of Superman. The Witch is like an evil doppelganger of Malick's movies, where faith, family unity and nature itself are constantly doubted, inherently flawed and imbued with the propensity towards Evil.
SPOILERS The animals, forest and weather in the movie are means by which the Devil himself tears the family apart.
The witch craft and hex scenes are truly disturbing and the overall tone of the movie made me feel sick. And I grew up watching horror movies for over three decades.
At the end when all the children are dead, the parents murdered and the baby boy slaughtered, we found the surviving daughter, Thomasin, actually converted to wicca and joined the coven. The very coven, whose member has attacked, abducted, molested and murdered her family.
Some critics said the movie was about feminism and its fight against patriarchy. But when The Satanic Temple praised its message about women liberation and satanic spirituality, is that actually a positive message? Would you equate feminism = satanic worship? Is Wicca = Satanism?
There are some horrific scenes in the movies that are disturbing on a visual, aural and intrinsic levels.
The ending also finds our young protagonist joining the coven, flying towards the moon naked and filled with ecstasy. All of these after signing her name on the book of the damned as she was tempted by Black Phillip. It was also revealed that the production house of the movie, A24, collaborated with The Satanic Temple in Detroit to promote the movie by setting up advance screening.
The production house might have thought this was a smart marketing strategy to promote the movie. The director, Robert Eggers, might have not intended a feminist read into the movie or even to make his film a satanic propaganda. Regardless of what their true motivations were, I find this movie thoroughly irresponsible in its depiction of nature worship, feminism and psychological traumas.
Could we believe that the award-winning level of fastidiousness and filmmaking skills of the director (and the studio) be complemented by such massive disregards for spiritualism. Is the nightmarish and downright anti-social message of the movie simply an ill-considered side effect of the director's attempt to shock and awe his audience.
However you want to cut this cake - I'd say for the love of everything that is good and holy in the world - stay away from watching this ill conceived movie.
It's not only sacrilegious towards religion, but towards life and nature itself.