"Be sober and alert. The devil prowls the earth."

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2019)

Robert Eggers' "The Witch" now replaces my all-time favorite horror film (previously Robert Wise's 1963, "The Haunting" with Julie Harris, now a little dated). What the two do have in common is a literary-mindedness, fine performances, superior cinematography, and that which is new and strange, that is, nothing is predictable.
In the case of "The Haunting" sexual repression, loneliness and maybe a psychotic heroine; for "The Witch," sexual tension from single room living as well as a religious repression, a dark foreboding wood, and a landscape unfamiliar to the inhabitant, that is, a New World. In both cases, an ignorance that needs some kind of definition so fear/panic can be managed. Ignorance is usually at the heart of the supernatural, but both films manage to convince the audience there is some kind of actual unknown force threatening the characters.
Eggers researched cases from the 1600's prior to the infamous Salem witch trials. Using court documents and lore, he's put together a convincing logic for what happens during the course of "The Witch," whether it be contaminated food, starvation or isolation born out of new surroundings or expulsion from society.
The spookiness creeps in slowly. The personality quirks of the family explain a lot. Never before have two "twins" been more cause for alarm than Mercy and Jonas and their "pet" goat Black Phillip.
The use of archaic language both Christian incantation (and other darker forms of religion) really raise the hackles. When Mercy and Jonas taunt an untethered Black William (a goat) with repetitious rhyme, I wanted to flee. But family members are stuck with them, and tensions build in their new surroundings as various significant and insignificant mysteries begin, and alarm and panic consume the family where no one is trusted and blame comes quickly to the lips, causing more and more tension. As pioneers, they are living on the margin of survival, in and of itself terrifying.
What happens in the wood is both beautiful and fraught. Jarin Blaschke's painterly cinematography draws us in to the drama, as does the careful costuming and production design. The film harkens back to the work of Carl Theodore Dreyer's 1920 "Leaves from Satan's Book," and masterful exploration of occult throughout his long career.
But it's the music that pushes this over the edge. Mark Korven's dissonant chorale and seemingly period instruments are as unfamiliar to us as the surroundings are for the family, driving us as mad as the fear that inhabits the characters.
All of this is accomplished in an almost casual way. But slowly the injection of the unknown and fear of it, consumes us without the usual tricks that have become so familiar (and anything-but-scary) the many horror films that are cranked out by the industry. "The Witch" is different which is bold enough. But it's also accomplished in what it sets out to do and earns a very special place in the canon of horror films.