Best horror movie of the 2010's

Rating: 9/10 (18 April 2016)

The witch is a slow burn. It isn't filled with spooks and scares, but instead relies on an atmosphere of constant tension created by the Gray and barren landscape and its subtle yet foreboding string instrument score. This is the work of an up and coming great director who seems to understand directing much better than just about any horror director as of late. The camera stays pretty still the entire movie. There are no tracking shots, no 10 minute one-take scenes, and besides a scene in the beginning with the family leaving Jamestown colony, I cannot recall the camera moving much at all. This lack of movement helps emphasize the isolation that the family must be feeling throughout the entirety of this movie. Now most people I assume won't enjoy this movie at all. Nothing is spelled out for the audience(even the dialogue is accurate to the time- period, so it is not easy to understand, especially with their heavy accents). The "witch" itself is never given a concrete form , which I'm sure will also frustrate people, and the ending is very ambiguous and maybe even anticlimactic, but for me it worked. This is a film that begs to be seen multiple times and dissected. From the family members each mirroring one of the deadly sins, to the fact that this movie may or may not have unreliable narrator syndrome, the witch is a s=dense film. Besides some minor pacing issues and some bad choices when it comes to background/ off screen noise, this movie is a near perfect period piece horror film. A solid 9/10 and the movie to beat in 2016