Unsettling supernatural chiller with echoes of Hammer horror; excellent all around

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2016)

THE WITCH (2016) *** 1/2 Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson, Bathsheba Garnett, Sarah Stephens, Julian Richings, Wahab Chaudhry. 17th century supernatural spook fest about a clan of Puritans in exile attempting to forage for themselves find out instead a sinister force in their midst, threatening their very lives and possibly their souls. Newbie filmmaker Robert Eggers manages to get the psychological underpinnings of the real horror at hand - personality conflicts and paranoia - while evoking a too-real to believe world created with immense production design by Craig Lathrop, beautiful cinematography by Jarin Blaschke and unnerving music by Mark Korven. The ensemble is perfectly blended with a finely etched turn by Taylor-Joy as the eldest child of the brood who is caught between heaven and hell. Genuinely chilling and echoes of Hammer horror films adds to its pedigree.