A Top Ten Horror Movie

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2016)

The best part about The Witch, besides the acting, is the dichotomy between drama and what is actually a surprisingly fast paced and accessible horror movie (with few genre clichés.) The film could be looked at as two separate stories heavily intertwined: the supernatural horror of the woods vs the very real terror of violence erupting within the family, and amazingly this is all done seamlessly, missing no beats and never seeming to give up one for the other. In that way, The Witch has the elegance of a clever children's story (A New England Folk Tale to be precise) with the intensity of a melodrama. This would never have worked if the cast didn't kill every role, but luckily for us they did; they murdered those roles.
I don't think I've ever actually seen a movie during which people, in the middle of a crowd, screamed. The Witch did that. The Witch made people scream and gasp so loud the whole room heard and it did other things too: it told an engrossing, intelligent story. There are minor "complaints" I may have that keep it from being 10/10 (the shots don't carry the film as much as the writing,) but really this is a horror film that could easily make a top ten list. It's just good fun (and the ending is great... don't bash the ending... people are bashing the ending but I don't know why... it's really a perfect ending...)