Unsettling slow burn to hopeless perdition

Rating: 5/10 (13 November 2016)

Released in 2015 and written/directed by Robert Eggers, "The Witch" (aka "The VVitch: A New-England Folktale") involves a devout family in the 17th century who leave a Puritan plantation due to theological differences and build a farm house in the New England wilderness. A string of tragedies offers evidence of a diabolical witch dwelling in the mysterious woods as the family descends into madness. Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie play the parents, William and Katherine, while Anya Taylor-Joy and Harvey Scrimshaw play the oldest of the five kids, Thomasin and Caleb.
The film is based on Eggers' childhood fascination with witches. Much research was done, extensively working from records in English and American museums, as well as consulting 17th century agricultural experts. The labors of Eggers & his team can be observed in the film because it's thoroughly convincing, as far as sets, dialogue and acting go. Speaking of dialogue, I encourage you to utilize the subtitles because you'll only understand half of the Old English verbiage.
"The Witch" is a mix of family drama, folktale and horror, coming across as a combo of four films: "The Crucible" (1996), "The Village" (2004), "Blood on Satan's Claw" (1971) and the satanic ritual sequence of "The Devil Rides Out" (ake "The Devil's Bride) (1968). It's more supernatural and creepy than the first two, but if you like these four films you'll probably appreciate it. "The Witch" brilliantly captures the paranoia & superstition of Puritan communities in New England around the time of the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 and melds it with supernatural horror. Everything is interwoven into a macabre ode of a time & place where people imagined witches and devils dwelling in the dark woods except here they're for real.
The family is a good loving family, but they're bound by the legalism of the strain of Calvinism they embrace. The father's proud, non-sectarian spirit cuts them off from the support of the only accessible community. By themselves in the black forest, they're open prey to the devil & his denizens. While the movie's admirable in so many ways, including the fact that it's ambiguous enough to be open to interpretation, it's also generally dull and too unpleasant for my tastes (yes, I realize it's SUPPOSED to be 'unpleasant' to a degree since it's a horror flick, but the third act just gets too ugly and leaves a bad taste). But Anya Taylor-Joy is magnificent and Ralph Ineson is excellent.
The film runs 92 minutes and was shot in Kiosk, Ontario, Canada. Costing only $3.5 million, it made $40.5 million worldwide with $25 million from North America.
GRADE: C+
ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY (***SPOILER ALERT***)
Some commentators absurdly suggest that Thomasin is better off at the end than living within the religious confines of her family or the Puritan community. Really? She now gets to slaughter babies in the woods and eventually face eternal damnation; yeah, that's just so incredibly liberating. Would she really be happy joining a bunch of murderous beasts, a couple of which just slaughtered her family? Interestingly, grinding babies to death is presumably female emancipation in this "folktale" and that's not too far from reality in modern Western culture.
Other commentators suggest that we don't know if what's going on is real or the result of mental illness due to extreme religiosity or a perhaps even a nightmare. ANSWER: Yes, we do know. From almost the very beginning we KNOW there's an actual diabolical witch in the area, which we SEE stole the baby and bathes in his blood. Shortly later we observe that this satanic ritual brings back her youth (or, at least, the appearance of youth); and she seduces Caleb, showing that she's a friggin' pedophile. The only thing we don't know is if there is more than one witch or what the devil's place in the events is or isn't, both of which are revealed literally in the final act.
Furthermore, if the witch is a delusion of one or more of the family members then that means that Thomasin or one of the others took the baby; of perhaps an animal. So where's the body or remains and why weren't William & Caleb able to find it during their thorough searches? If one of them or an animal, like a wolf, took and killed the infant where's the evidence, where's the blood? We see zero evidence to draw this conclusion.
Also keep in mind that the movie is subtitled a 'folktale' and is based on actual documents from the 17th century. In other words, the movie doesn't depict reality, but is exactly what it says it is -- a folk TALE where ugly, evil witches who bathe in infants' blood and devils who masquerade as goats really lurk in the dark woods and are to be feared.
So the surmounting tragedies the family experiences aren't a product of hyper-religious paranoia or a nightmare, but rather the result of confrontation with sinister beings, both physical and spiritual, which exist in the 'world' of the movie.
Lastly, the message of the film is obvious: Don't leave the strength and protection of the community of believers due to arrogance or you'll be picked off one by one by the Enemy; or, at least, seduced into joining the dark side.