A horror movie for more sophisticated watchers as well as those with a love of slowburn tension

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2019)

Let me say: this is not your typical horror movie. This is a film that relies on slow, slow tension, to the point it could probably be a thriller if it weren't for the horrific imagery. It's relatively sparse on jump scares (which, in my opinion, makes them more effective), there's no over-the-top gore (once again, used sparsely and mainly offscreen, therefore more effective), and the movie has one element that will either endear viewers or turn them away: period-accurate English. Seriously, unless you're a fan of Nathaniel Hawthorne novels and can understand the kind of English the pilgrims spoke, it might be best you watch this movie with subtitles.
Nonetheless, this is a really good movie. The acting is incredibly spot-on, even that of the young children. Anya Taylor-Joy is a standout as she's arguably caught in the center of most of the story's conflicts. Each actor makes it believable that they are suffering through the hardness of the undiscovered American wilderness made worse by their own paranoias. The costumes are spot-on, the movie's mythology pays a ton of respect to real-world witch lore, and I recently learned that the movie was filmed using only natural lighting, which certainly adds to the feeling that we're enduring the family's hardships alongside them. And the entire movie absolutely drips with tension as we're left wondering how long it will take for everything to fall apart and what will be the main cause of everything: either the family's world or the family themselves. Blend this in with some truly disturbing imagery (occasionally made laughable by the complex English) and you've got yourself quite an unconventional horror flick.
In conclusion: slowburn horror film with great acting, plenty of tension, disturbing imagery, and the required usage of subtitles