The Witch (2016)

[somebody85]

On 2/23/2016 at 9:50 AM, JohnnyGossamer said:

Rosemary's Baby

Suspiria

Blair Witch Project

Sleepy Hollow

The Crucible

 

Movies that were in another league compared to this one.
 

So far the only horror/thriller I've enjoyed this year was Hush. The Boy was good for the first half and then fell apart when it dropped the horror element midway through. After that it became like a low budget movie but on the big screen. How you rate it is all going to depend on how you feel with the way the story turns out. Me...well I've seen that done a lot before but I like Lauren Cohan, so it's watchable. The Forest and Intruders were both garbage.

Then this and The Invitation were big letdowns after the reviews. Especially this which had a lot of hype going into it before being released.

The Invitation was slightly better but still ridiculous and predictable. 
 

So far no It Follows or Ex Machina this year. Hopefully The Conjuring 2 lives up to that last trailer and is fun.

Edited April 24, 2016 by somebody85

[Fanboy]

Wow, the reception for this movie here is much more underwhelming than I've seen on other sites. Even IMDb. While I personally didn't find it scary, it's easily the best movie I've seen this year. For a first feature, Robert Eggers really knocks it out of the park. I also expect we'll being seeing a lot more of Anya Taylor-Joy and Harvey Scrimshaw after this. Such incredible performances from both of them. 

[La Binoche]

Loved it. I was worried it would go for a Crucible/religious fanaticism angle where there would be no actual supernatural. Fortunately I was wrong. At first I had problems w/ the accents but the story is so simple that you got the gist of it and the accents added to the film's authenticity/period setting. My favorite movie of the year so far. A

[Avatree]

7 hours ago, La Binoche said:

Loved it. I was worried it would go for a Crucible/religious fanaticism angle where there would be no actual supernatural. Fortunately I was wrong. At first I had problems w/ the accents but the story is so simple that you got the gist of it and the accents added to the film's authenticity/period setting. My favorite movie of the year so far. A

I disagree, there is nothing supernatural in the film.

[Jack Nevada]

Haven't done a review in a while, but this movie prompted me to write down some of my thoughts. 

 

The Witch is probably one of the best horror films I've seen. It's beautifully put together, the performances are amazing and, most importantly, it's absolutely terrifying.

 

It's not a fun, "bring some popcorn and scream at the jump scares" type of horror film. It's gruelling to watch. Not only because of the intensity and the supernatural stuff, but also the environment the films puts you in. Life fucking sucked in the 17th century and The Witch captures this with great eye for period detail. The way the characters act, speak and view the world.. it all feels authentic. And scary. The Devil is real, your daughter might be a witch and the fear of Damnation looms over everything you do. It's fucked up. 

 

The film grabbed me by the throat right from the beginning. We see the Witch - and yes, there really is an evil non-metaphorical witch in the woods - steal a baby and bash it to a bloody sauce, which she then spreads all over her body and her broomstick and flies away. It's a hell of an opening. I really felt like I was witnessing something evil, and the movie stayed at that level of "holy shit what the fuck am I watching" intensity throughout. I can't really explain it, but I just felt like I couldn't move and I actually covered my eyes at several points. There are many scenes that are just unbearably tense. 

 

I saw The Witch at a local horror movie all-nighter, and the screening was sold out. I've been reading stories of audiences groaning and laughing at inappropriate moments, but last night's crowd was 100% on board. You could feel the tension in the air during some of the more intense scenes, and afterwards I heard nothing but high praise in the lobby. So it's not a mainstream horror film. I was honestly surprised it even got a wide release. The Witch is not about jump scares, or violence. It's more like The Shining, actually. You just feel tense and, in my case, completely paralyzed with fear. And when you go to bed afterwards it'll keep fucking with your mind. 

 

5/5

Edited April 25, 2016 by Jack Nevada

[somebody85]

19 hours ago, Jack Nevada said:

Haven't done a review in a while, but this movie prompted me to write down some of my thoughts. 

 

The Witch is probably one of the best horror films I've seen. It's beautifully put together, the performances are amazing and, most importantly, it's absolutely terrifying.

 

It's not a fun, "bring some popcorn and scream at the jump scares" type of horror film. It's gruelling to watch. Not only because of the intensity and the supernatural stuff, but also the environment the films puts you in. Live fucking sucked in the 17th century and The Witch captures this with great eye for period detail. The way the characters act, speak and view the world.. it all feels authentic. And scary. The Devil is real, your daughter might be a witch and the fear of Damnation looms over everything you do. It's fucked up. 

 

The film grabbed me by the throat right from the beginning. We see the Witch - and yes, there really is an evil non-metaphorical witch in the woods - steal a baby and bash it to a bloody sauce, which she then spreads all over her body and her broomstick and flies away. It's a hell of an opening. I really felt like I was witnessing something evil, and the movie stayed at that level of "holy shit what the fuck am I watching" intensity throughout. I can't really explain it, but I just felt like I couldn't move and I actually covered my eyes at several points. There are many scenes that are just unbearably tense. 

 

I saw The Witch at a local horror movie all-nighter, and the screening was sold out. I've been reading stories of audiences groaning and laughing at inappropriate moments, but last night's crowd was 100% on board. You could feel the tension in the air during some of the more intense scenes, and afterwards I heard nothing but high praise in the lobby. So it's not a mainstream horror film. I was honestly surprised it even got a wide release. The Witch is not about jump scares, or violence. It's more like The Shining, actually. You just feel tense and, in my case, completely paralyzed with fear. And when you go to bed afterwards it'll keep fucking with your mind. 

 

5/5

Gee I wish I felt that way about it. It was grueling to watch alright....but not for those reasons for me.

That opening scene felt ripped out of a music video. Yeah everything felt authentic and thanks to that it was super hard to understand if you don't speak ye old english or are used to hearing it.

By the way when Thomison (I think that's the sons name) see's the witch I thought she was sexy (almost like she belonged in movies nowadays) and not at all frightening.

The only thing that felt evil about the entire movie was the score which was tense but felt like they were trying to hard. And I'm not lying when I definitely laughed at the goats bahhhing at each other in the first 40 minutes. So I don't blame certain audiences for laughing.

The fact that it wasn't mainstream jump scare horror is why I thought I would really like it, but I ended up hating it. At least I could finish stuff like Ouija and The Lazerus Effect (no matter how lame I found them). I love indie horror flicks that rely on tension and totally disagree about this feeling anything at all like The Shining.

That is one of the greatest horror movies of all time and many scenes still hold up to this day (like the blood coming out of the elevators or the iconic twins in the hallway). You can feel the dread building all throughout it and I would never want to stay in a hotel alone (let alone that one).

I'm glad others had an amazing experience with this though. I really really don't get it being a huge horror fan. I guess I'm in the same boat of people who didn't find It Follows that great after I was blown away by it. The language completely ruined The Witch for me because if I don't care about the characters, then I don't care what happens.
 

I felt paralyzed with annoyance not fear.

 

Edited April 25, 2016 by somebody85

[Jack Nevada]

8 hours ago, somebody85 said:

By the way when Thomison (I think that's the sons name) see's the witch I thought she was sexy (almost like she belonged in movies nowadays) and not at all frightening.

That was intentional though. We'd already seen Caleb looking at her sister's breasts because, well, he's a horny pent-up kid in the middle of nowhere and she's the only girl around. And the whole family is deeply religious, which can and will screw with your head when it comes to sex. So of course the Witch would know to use a sexy disguise to lure him in. 

 

[The Stingray]

I respect Jack's opinion of course, but I can't relate to what he's saying. I liked the movie, but I think it almost works better as a drama with elements of horror (like Rosemary's Baby, for example) than an outright horror film. Aside from one or two creepy moments, I didn't really find it all that disturbing. However, it is moody, looks gorgeous and has plenty of atmosphere, which is why, at the end of the day, I dug it.

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by The Stingray

[Plain Old Tele]

On 4/24/2016 at 7:09 AM, Treetrunk Special said:

I disagree, there is nothing supernatural in the film.

 

So how do you explain the last scene?

 

I'm all for interpretation, but there's nothing there (at least, as far as I can remember) to suggest anything other than what's presented.

[CoolioD1]

i thought it was smart showing the witch grinding that baby up early on. tells you real quickly that this ain't no Crucible type paranoia shit it's really there. just cut out that one minute and i might have even viewed the majority film differently, which i don't think woulda been better because i've seen that movie before.

[Plain Old Tele]

3 minutes ago, CoolioD1 said:

i thought it was smart showing the witch grinding that baby up early on. tells you real quickly that this ain't no Crucible type paranoia shit it's really there. just cut out that one minute and i might have even viewed the majority film differently, which i don't think woulda been better because i've seen that movie before.

 

Actually, I disagree. That baby-grinding scene set me up for something way pulpier and nastier than what was delivered.

[Jack Nevada]

Oh, it's a supernatural film. No question about that. We see the witches. 

 

Actually I found the ending oddly satisfying. This girl had been putting up with so much bullshit that I was like "Fuck it, go ahead. Do some evil witch stuff"

 

[Water Bottle]

On 4/24/2016 at 7:09 AM, Treetrunk Special said:

I disagree, there is nothing supernatural in the film.

 

I think you are confusing facts and opinions.

 

[Avatree]

5 hours ago, Telemachos said:

 

So how do you explain the last scene?

 

I'm all for interpretation, but there's nothing there (at least, as far as I can remember) to suggest anything other than what's presented.

No, it was very much open to interpretation. You don't really see anything clear, it's just as ambiguous as the rest of the movie. For me, the film is all about how fear leads people to do crazy things - the witch hunt is exactly what witch hunts really were. Demonising perfectly normal people based on mere suspicions. 

 

@Water Bottle it is not a fact... For one thing, it's just a movie and I can interpret however I like. Secondly, there are plenty of critics who agree with me about there being no supernatural, and even more who say the film is at least open.

 

I personally love the fact that people can get completely different things out of the same movie.

[Water Bottle]

The final shot of the movie is literally a girl floating in mid-air in front of a tree. Are you thinking of a different movie?

[Plain Old Tele]

Not to mention, one of the previous shots is multiple women all floating in the air.

[baumer]

It's definitely supernatural.  I also didn't like the baby grinding scene because as cool as it was, it sets you up for something that never materializes.

[JohnnyGossamer]

On 4/27/2016 at 8:50 PM, Baumer said:

It's definitely supernatural.  I also didn't like the baby grinding scene because as cool as it was, it sets you up for something that never materializes.

This goes for Telemachos as well... How much pulpier were you expecting it to be? And, how far, after grisly fate of the infant, did you expect it to go in that direction? Just curious...

[AniNate]

I think a problem I have with the ending is even when it does go full on shitshow, it still seems afraid to fully commit either way. After the bloodbath the camera just mundanely follows Tommasen for awhile and you're expecting some sort of interesting character beat but it disappointingly still only leads to the reveal of her being a one-dimensional witch. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by tribefan695

[Jake Gittes]

Loved every minute of this.