An horror movie with gives much attention to period details

Rating: 7/10 (13 March 2020)

When "The lighthouse" (2019, Robert Eggers) came out I intended to see also his debut film "The witch" (2015). When "The lighthouse" turned out to be a disappointment I began to doubt if I would still see "The witch". After all I am glad I have done it. "The witch", which has much in common with the Estonian film "November" (2017, Rainer Sarnet), is a more subdued and a better film than "The lighthouse".
"The witch" has been carefully made. Much effort has been put in getting the period details right. One example of this is the use of antiquated language.
This attention for period details has made "The witch" into a multi layered film. Layer 1 has to do with the extent to which the events are shocking for the viewer. Layer 2 concerns the extent to which the events are shocking to the main characters. With respect to layer 2 one has to consider that the main characters are deeply religious people for whom there is no real difference between the natural world and the supernatural world.
The fear for the devil is for them very real. Because the devil can appear in various manifestations (including taking possession of a human being), this fear gives rise to a growing sense of distrust within the family. This fear and the resulting distrust in layer 2 makes the film more tense in layer 1. One can see the same effect in science fiction films in which an alien can take on a human form. See for example "The invasion of the body snatchers" (1956, Don Siegel) or "The thing" (1982, John Carpenter).