The Witch: "Corruption, Thou Art My Father"

Director: Robbert Eggers
Writer:    Robert Eggers
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy
                Ralph Ineson
                Kate Dickie
                Harvey Scrimshaw
                Ellie Grainger
                Lucas Dawson
                Bathsheba Garnett
                Sarah Stephens
Rating:    ****

Release Date: Out Now 

It has been far too long since a horror film has filled with that sense of unease and uncontrollable tension. Many films have had me jumping out of my skin, but not since the original Paranormal Activity have I spent and entire film feeling nervous and jittery. The Witch is filled with a spine chilling sense of terror throughout the entire movie, and it is certainly not for the faint hearted.

Set in the 17th century, a highly religious family living on a farm go about their lives, their lives that are forever overshadowed by the legendary witch that supposedly lives in the woods they live by. Thomasin (Taylor-Joy) is looking after her baby brother one day, when the baby is taken by a witch and killed. From this day on Thomasin's family blame her for the baby's disappearance, and despite her please, only her father (Ineson) stands fully by her. As the time goes by, their lives unravel completely out of their control, and as the witchery haunts the family, they get torn apart and begin to turn on each other.

Anya-Taylor Joy

This film is intense, that's the only way to describe it; and luckily the cast perform the material with complete conviction and truly transport you to another time. There is no standout performance, because each cast member works their hardest to performing the eerie and gripping script, fully engrossing themselves in the drama and terror that evolves. I will however give special recognition to Joy, Harvey Scrimshaw and Ellie Grainger, as the younger cast members (Grainger the youngest of the three), they handled the work superbly, children in horror films can be very cliche, but the children here are authentic and add to the story rather than hinder it.

The script is full of twists and turns, and Eggers has done a brilliant job at setting the scene and creating a 17th century family. My only issue is that I felt some questions weren't fully answered; was Thomasin a witch all along? were the twins really making a deal with the devil? Despite that both Eggers script and direction were top notch. Each scene was eerie, haunting and chilling; and the music alongside of the acting and cinematography helped create one of the scariest films in the past 5 years. 

The Witch - Trailer