Weird Witch

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2020)

'The Witch' has a remarkable ability to sustain weird atmosphere and environment, and magical thinking almost throughout its runtime.
A crafted and deliberate film which reflects on themes and tonal attributes clearly important to its filmmaker: writer-director Eggers; this directness of vision benefits 'The Witch' greatly.
Technical credits and production standards are of a commendably high and effective standard.
The period portrayal, whilst necessarily dramatically formulated, is immensely interesting: the language and accents, including the "vocabulary of ideas" of the protagonists is a particular high point in this historical horror.
On the flip side most of the best moments of the film are clustered towards the first half with a diminution of highlights as the film progresses.
The climax is perhaps rather modern in its sensibilities which I found to be really jarring after a film that is constrained to its depicted environment so rigorously by the writing and directing almost all through the prior runtime.
Some of the character scenes between family members could have been more energetically staged and frame compositions are sometimes unable to make use of all the potential of the environment.
For a considerable contribution to the historical horror/folk horror genres, and from a first time director, 'The Witch' is a strong announcement of a filmmaker with vision and purpose; in itself there is much to commend.
I rate 'The Witch' a 7/10 and I would particularly recommend to fans of psychological horror/thrillers, historical films, folk horror and witchcraft/black magic horror.....it is far from perfect but with allowances made for a first time director this is a really good if not quite a very best or great standard film.