There’s something very unsettling about Robert Eggers movie debut THE WITCH a horror film set around the infamous Witch Hysteria’s in the New England Puritan times – it’s slow pace and it’s fine narrative penetrates your soul, the picture entwinines your subconscious and fills your mind with creepy, haunting images some beautiful others terrifying, like Kubrick’s The Shining The Witch plays on your fear of isolation, your darkest thoughts are let loose and the not knowing of what will happen next becomes more relevant, all of this is greatly helped by Mark Korven’s harrowing score that pushes your pulse upwards and gives each haunting scene greater significance – it’s cast that includes Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie both known for work on HBO’s Game of Thrones are remarkable, they both deliver a harsh realism to their roles and you can’t help but be horrified by their circumstance but for me what gives THE WITCH it’s greatness is the young actress Anya Taylor-Joy who’s performance as Thomasin the elder daughter is utterly mesmerizing, her pale complexion & wide eyed innocence is something to behold, there’s a surreal beauty but also a cunning guile about her that Taylor-Joy captures perfectly, the scene where she tormentes her sister is both breathtaking & disturbing – Overall: this is no slasher movie and there’s ceretainly no great body count The Witch is not your mainstream horror movie, it’s masterful cinematography and direction allows the picture to be both unique and disturbing, my advice is don’t watch it alone – The Witch is a GEM in its genre a truly scary piece of work ★★★★½
