Chilling

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2017)

All I can say is that this film does a brilliant job at giving you the creeps without going for cheap jump scares. And being someone who hates jump scares, that was refreshing.
The Witch is about a Puritan family in the 1600s that is banished from their village, and then moves far away to a secluded area near a forest. In the forest, of course, resides a witch that kidnaps the family's youngest infant, and continuously messes around with the family throughout the movie.
A lot of people say this film can be too slowly-paced at times, which I agree with. But I thought the slow-burn and subtlty worked really well. There were never any big moments with reveals, the way most horror/mysteries are. Little things would keep going wrong, and the suspense just kept building very slowly and painfully.
But the ending definitely could've been played out a better...there were a few plot holes. If the goat was supposed to be the antagonist all along, what was the point of having the witch terrorize the family too? Also, who's responsible for kidnapping the twins, the witch or the goat? It was all too much to swallow at once, especially since the rest of the film was so much more subtle.
And of course, Thomasin ends up killing her mother, and then joining the witch's side, which was a bit shocking but expected in a way. I guess she had no choice, since her whole family was dead. And the opening voice-over of her confessing her sins to God could've been an overshadowing of the ending--that she desired evil all along, as much as she tried to go against it. Another theory I have is that she (ironically) sacrificed herself to evil in order to pay for her family's death...since Thomasin told her mother "I love you" after killing her. These are just my ideas though; I have no idea what the director intended to say there.
The cinematography, acting, dialogue, and score were solid. I'm amazed at how the actors were able to speak in character using such old dialogue, and I think it really contributed to how real the whole movie felt. A lot of people seem bothered by the filter, but I liked it. Imagining the movie with any more color makes me cringe...the filter fits the setting and mood perfectly enough. The score was subtle, like the film itself. It popped out when necessary and wasn't over dramatic. Almost nothing in this film was over-the-top except for the young kids' acting in some scenes.
Overall I'd say this is a quality film that's definitely worth watching. It's a different kind of horror though, so know what to expect before you watch it.