A visually impressive period piece ruined by its ending

Rating: 2/10 (21 May 2020)

I am someone who loves all things Salem and Puritan witch trials. Based upon good reviews and internet buzz, I had high hopes for this film. Things I did like were the costuming, the setting and the period-specific language. However, I was distinctly unimpressed overall. Many people rave about this as a horror film, but while there were certainly bloody, gory scenes, I would categorize that more as "disgusting" rather than "scary." As for the story itself, I guess it was meant to be a psychological thriller, but that only works if your audience can actually follow the story. I was appreciated the period-specific speech but due to the fact that the sound quality was bad, I found myself resorting to subtitles to attempt to follow what was going on. Unfortunately, it seemed like the entire film was just multiple vignettes of increasingly chaotic happenings on an isolated farm strung together, and what TRULY disappointed me was the end. The fact that there actually ARE witches and a devil/demon causing all the mayhem in the end is a much worse plot twist than if we discovered that the supernatural aspect was all imaginary and that the family slaughtered each other over something that only existed in their minds. Now THAT would've been a truly scary ending!!