Jack Remington
Banned
Last night I managed to catch The Witch in theaters. Like most critics, I was blown away by the quality of the film. The cinematography and sound were on a completely different level compared to almost all horror films. In fact, I'd call The Witch a serious contender for a Best Cinematography Oscar next year. The acting was phenomenal. I had some trouble with the accents and actually didn't understand a few lines of dialogue, but it wasn't a huge problem.
This was not a fun experience for me at all. In fact, this was one of the least fun theater experiences I've ever had. I found the film unrelentingly bleak and oppressive. From about 20 minutes into the film up to the last 10 minutes or so, I felt a constant sense of dread. Disclaimer: I have a very hard time watching children being put in danger or made to feel frightened or even unhappy, so the film probably had more of an impact on me than it would on people who don't have such a hard time with this. The film has six characters: a Puritan couple and their four children (plus a baby, a dog, and some livestock), so a large percentage of dangerous situations involve child characters. This is tough because, 1) except for the oldest daughter they have no real agency and have done absolutely nothing to deserve the horrible situation they are in, and 2) they are completely helpless, especially the youngest children.
I've seen some reviews calling this a thriller or even a "historical drama with horror elements", which to me is pretty ridiculous. The Witch is a horror film, full stop. About 15 or 20 minutes in, you get one of the most horrifying scenes of the last 20 years outside of the New French Extremism movement. There's the unrelentingly oppressive tone that I mentioned. The score and sound design are horror. The film's shot composition, angles, and editing are pure horror. And if you really immerse yourself in the world of the film, it's terrifying.
To me, the "not a horror movie" criticism just reveals how dumbed-down expectations for the genre have gotten since the 90s. A lot of the audience reviews warn readers that "this is not a traditional horror movie with jump scares." That just saddens me; it's like people saying that certain electronic artists are boring because they don't have "sick bass drops." A true fan of electronica can appreciate Boards of Canada along with Skrillex. The genre has many different avenues of expression.
I consider about 90% of jump scares to be cheap and unearned. They're inserted into the film to create tension that the film's story can't create for itself. The best jump scares, like the monster reveal in The Descent, or the alien's appearance in the ventilation shaft in Alien, are actually the least scary thing in their respective scenes. They accentuate the dread that the scene has built organically. Like the cherry on a Manhattan, they're there to add that last kick of flavor to the bourbon and vermouth, not to be the entire flavor of the drink. Unfortunately, the cheap jump scares have become so pervasive in horror movies that it seems some audience members can't imagine the genre without them. There is something to be said for the rush of adrenaline/endorphins that a movie full of jump scares can create, but this is only one method of creating horror, not the only method or even the most important one.
I had the benefit of a great theater experience for my viewing. The screen and the sound system were both excellent, and the theater was completely silent for the entire film. Some of the negative audience reviews I've read mention theaters with other audience members laughing, talking, or even heckling. This would have destroyed the experience for me. This isn't a movie you can talk through. It requires full immersion to create its effect. You need to be there with the characters, feeling their pain and terror. And you need to be attuned to the video and audio language of horror film. There's nothing so obvious as a bunch of crucifixes on a wall turning upside down, or handprints appearing on a bed. The horror is in the subtle details.
Now, some specific commentary.
9.5/10. People keep comparing this to The Babadook and It Follows. It was far superior to either of those films.
This was not a fun experience for me at all. In fact, this was one of the least fun theater experiences I've ever had. I found the film unrelentingly bleak and oppressive. From about 20 minutes into the film up to the last 10 minutes or so, I felt a constant sense of dread. Disclaimer: I have a very hard time watching children being put in danger or made to feel frightened or even unhappy, so the film probably had more of an impact on me than it would on people who don't have such a hard time with this. The film has six characters: a Puritan couple and their four children (plus a baby, a dog, and some livestock), so a large percentage of dangerous situations involve child characters. This is tough because, 1) except for the oldest daughter they have no real agency and have done absolutely nothing to deserve the horrible situation they are in, and 2) they are completely helpless, especially the youngest children.
I've seen some reviews calling this a thriller or even a "historical drama with horror elements", which to me is pretty ridiculous. The Witch is a horror film, full stop. About 15 or 20 minutes in, you get one of the most horrifying scenes of the last 20 years outside of the New French Extremism movement. There's the unrelentingly oppressive tone that I mentioned. The score and sound design are horror. The film's shot composition, angles, and editing are pure horror. And if you really immerse yourself in the world of the film, it's terrifying.
To me, the "not a horror movie" criticism just reveals how dumbed-down expectations for the genre have gotten since the 90s. A lot of the audience reviews warn readers that "this is not a traditional horror movie with jump scares." That just saddens me; it's like people saying that certain electronic artists are boring because they don't have "sick bass drops." A true fan of electronica can appreciate Boards of Canada along with Skrillex. The genre has many different avenues of expression.
I consider about 90% of jump scares to be cheap and unearned. They're inserted into the film to create tension that the film's story can't create for itself. The best jump scares, like the monster reveal in The Descent, or the alien's appearance in the ventilation shaft in Alien, are actually the least scary thing in their respective scenes. They accentuate the dread that the scene has built organically. Like the cherry on a Manhattan, they're there to add that last kick of flavor to the bourbon and vermouth, not to be the entire flavor of the drink. Unfortunately, the cheap jump scares have become so pervasive in horror movies that it seems some audience members can't imagine the genre without them. There is something to be said for the rush of adrenaline/endorphins that a movie full of jump scares can create, but this is only one method of creating horror, not the only method or even the most important one.
I had the benefit of a great theater experience for my viewing. The screen and the sound system were both excellent, and the theater was completely silent for the entire film. Some of the negative audience reviews I've read mention theaters with other audience members laughing, talking, or even heckling. This would have destroyed the experience for me. This isn't a movie you can talk through. It requires full immersion to create its effect. You need to be there with the characters, feeling their pain and terror. And you need to be attuned to the video and audio language of horror film. There's nothing so obvious as a bunch of crucifixes on a wall turning upside down, or handprints appearing on a bed. The horror is in the subtle details.
Now, some specific commentary.
I liked the decision to resolve all ambiguity about whether or not there is really a witch in the movie within the first 20 minutes of the film. I've seen some criticism of this decision, because "It's Horror 101 that you don't show your monster", but this to me just betray's the critics limited understanding of horror. One of the greatest sources of tension in a film is when the audience knows something that the characters do not.
In The Witch, we know that there is something unspeakably horrible and evil out there in the woods, but the characters do not know this. Thus when we see our characters venturing out into the woods, we know they are in very real danger.
To me, the scariest part of the film was when Thomasin and Caleb have encountered that yellow-eyed rabbit (very clearly a shapeshifter or a witch's familiar), and Thomasin has been knocked unconscious after her horse panics. Then we see Caleb, completely alone in the woods, and now the horror is real. The camera shots accentuate how helpless he is. The shot of Caleb crawling through a dense thicket of branches conveys a sense of inevitable and impending doom. The moment the film cuts to the shot of the hut in the woods, with Caleb advancing towards it, I was hit with a feeling of despair that I've never felt in a movie before. I knew, without a doubt, that this was it for Caleb. The wooden door in the hut is terrifying because we know something of what lies behind it. But Caleb doesn't know. So he moves step by step towards his own doom, and all we can do is helplessly watch.
The ending was phenomenal. I really liked the part where Black Phillip speaks. Having Thomasin become a witch, thus giving double meaning to the film's title, was a twist I started to suspect was coming about halfway into the film, but it was executed extremely well.
In The Witch, we know that there is something unspeakably horrible and evil out there in the woods, but the characters do not know this. Thus when we see our characters venturing out into the woods, we know they are in very real danger.
To me, the scariest part of the film was when Thomasin and Caleb have encountered that yellow-eyed rabbit (very clearly a shapeshifter or a witch's familiar), and Thomasin has been knocked unconscious after her horse panics. Then we see Caleb, completely alone in the woods, and now the horror is real. The camera shots accentuate how helpless he is. The shot of Caleb crawling through a dense thicket of branches conveys a sense of inevitable and impending doom. The moment the film cuts to the shot of the hut in the woods, with Caleb advancing towards it, I was hit with a feeling of despair that I've never felt in a movie before. I knew, without a doubt, that this was it for Caleb. The wooden door in the hut is terrifying because we know something of what lies behind it. But Caleb doesn't know. So he moves step by step towards his own doom, and all we can do is helplessly watch.
The ending was phenomenal. I really liked the part where Black Phillip speaks. Having Thomasin become a witch, thus giving double meaning to the film's title, was a twist I started to suspect was coming about halfway into the film, but it was executed extremely well.
9.5/10. People keep comparing this to The Babadook and It Follows. It was far superior to either of those films.
