Complete lack of tension

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2016)

Anytime someone says something like "cinema as art", you know it's a rubbish film.
The Witch is well shot, well acted, poorly written and poorly directed. The cinematography is good. The aspect ratio is unusual, but works well.
The acting is good, and I liked the authentic-sounding dialogue, although it got a little talky at times.
**** SPOILERS ****
It's poorly written & directed. There's an real lack of tension. The film starts with a bang - a witch steals and kills a child - and then... nothing. The witch is almost completely absent from the rest of the film til the end. There's a rabbit and a goat that seem to be possessed, but that's all. The film would have worked much, much better if the witch was a constant presence, even if only half-seen.
Without that, the film just plods along. After such a dramatic start, it gets dull and slow. It's a real shame, since there's a lot of good things going on. The problem is that there is no tension. Certainly strange things happen, but the director is unable to sustain any tension through it.