As a New Englander, I have the privilege of coming from a land steeped in horror. Whether it be the spooky Stephen King, the gothic poetics of Edgar Allan Poe, or the twisted mind of HP Lovecraft, New England is a land of various haunts and ghouls. With that said, in the four years since it was released, I’ve developed a sentimental attachment of sorts to Robert Eggers’ The Witch.
That attachment isn’t purely because of the film’s fascinating depiction of old New England, or its creepy imagery, or the lovable Black Philip – it’s mostly because of what it has done for horror cinema. Not only does The Witch offer a brilliant narrative, it has also influenced how horror films explore dread.
When the trailer for The Witch first released, there was a great deal of hype surrounding its chilling presentation. Who was “the witch?” What sort of evil would we experience? But while the film did involve a witch, what it ended up being was not what moviegoers may have expected. For all its fantastical elements, The Witch is much more grounded in realism. That said, what the film actually provides is an even more fascinating experience of disturbing horror. When it comes to the film’s titular witch, she only ever makes brief appearances. Her presence is primarily meant to stir the anxiety that The Witch is built on.
For The Witch isn’t really about witches or Satan – it is about the anxieties of folklore and religious ideals, and their impact on a family.
The Witch follows Thomasin (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) and her family, who are banished from their colony over religious differences. When they find new land, the family begins to grow crops and start a new life for themselves. One day, while Thomasin is playing peek-a-boo with her baby brother Samuel, the child is kidnapped. In a brief sequence, we see our titular witch sacrificing the child as a means to infuse magic into her broomstick.
As Katherine (the mother, played by Kate Dickie) grieves for her lost child, Thomasin’s brother Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) asks his father about Samuel’s fate; since the baby was not baptized, Caleb is fearful that he is in Hell. The father, William (Ralph Ineson), pushes Caleb to not think of such notions. Katherine places blame on Thomasin for losing Samuel. Early on in the film, in a conversation with William, Katherine discusses the idea of sending Thomasin off to serve another family, as well as her fear of their crops not doing well. We also learn that a special trinket of hers has gone missing. In a later dinner scene, Katherine aggressively approaches Thomasin about this missing trinket, believing she is to blame.
In actuality, however, William sold Katherine’s trinket for hunting supplies, but has decided to stay silent. He tells Caleb his secret, who lies to his mother when the subject is first brought up, as to cover for his father. When William finally owns up to selling the cup, Katherine briefly turns on him, and all of a sudden becomes warmer towards Thomasin.
While all of this is going on, there is antagonism between Thomasin and her sister Mercy (Ellie Grainger). Mercy calls Thomasin a witch, the latter playing into the comment and threatening the former. Mercy continues to agitate Thomasin with these witch comments. Throughout the film, Thomasin and the viewer witness Mercy and her brother Jonas (Lucas Dawson) speaking to Black Phillip, the family’s billy goat; this becomes an important point for a major conflict later on.
After Caleb comes across the witch in the woods, he returns home inflected with an illness. Prior to a convulsion he suffers, Mercy speaks to that earlier incident where Thomasin said she was a witch and threatened her. Caleb dies and Thomasin runs off; in an attempt to defend herself, she tells William how the siblings have been communicating with Black Phillip (who she claims is the devil).
Though the film ends on a supernatural note, it is the family dynamic that serves as an incredible driving force of horror. From the moment that Samuel is stolen, the family’s trust for one another begins to unravel, creating a spiral of deceit. Through their lies and hurtful actions, they hypocritically begin to break the ideals of their religious beliefs. At certain points in the film, Katherine acknowledges the issues surrounding the family, repeating how they have been cursed by God and are damned. That sort of anxiety that she displays is part of what makes the film’s horror so intriguing – for so much of the family’s tensions lie in the realm of religious fears.
The viewer is never given explicit detail as to the differences between the family and that of their colony (regarding religious beliefs). Over the course of the film, however, we come to witness William and Katherine’s religious ideology, and how those beliefs are pressed upon the children’s lives.
Another important point to note is how only the viewer is truly ever aware of the witch’s existence. As far as the family is concerned, there is no proof of her. In his sickened state, Caleb cannot speak to having met the witch; but his illness is what kicks off the greater hysteria surrounding the idea of her. Eventually, matters such as Samuel’s disappearance and the crops not doing well come to be blamed on the family being cursed. As the antagonism rises among everyone, so does the belief of something supernatural being at work.
Through all their struggles, the family’s belief system and anger is what ultimately destroys them. Rather than working together and approaching things with a spiritually built out of love, they lash out in fear. With this focus in mind, we come to see how The Witch is truly a tale about how folklore and strict religious ideals have the power to influence people; how they have the potential to stir fear, to take hold of us in our darkest times.
The Witch received critical acclaim upon its release, proving to be an incredible work of slow-burn, atmospheric, and rich horror. Since its release, there has been a fascinating shift in the genre; though we continue to see our fair share of adrenaline-fueled gore in films, The Witch’s sense of presentation has spread throughout horror cinema. One need not look further than films such as The Ritual and Hereditary to see how The Witch’s haunting atmosphere has influenced recent horror. Of course each of these films spark with originality, but they share a spiritual similarity to that of The Witch. Not only do they each embrace a slow-burn build up, but they use their presentation to explore grief.
Some of the great recent works in horror have contained a focus on grief – such as through the lens of family related trauma. The Witch is not the first film to approach the subject of grief; that said, it provides an intriguing angle in exploring the concept. The Witch works to slowly unnerve the viewer. Through the family’s mental descent, we come to feel uncomfortable among their mind games. Other recent works of horror have also embraced this cerebral quality, such as Goodnight Mommy and Midsommar.
This perspective of horror lends itself to establishing a more immersive mood – providing an opportunity for viewers to soak in emotion. Through the downfall of Thomasin and her family, we come to see how folklore has warped their perception of the world. We experience their dread and fear as they tear apart. By approaching the narrative in a slower, atmospheric manner, Eggers successfully offers a work that weaves the viewer into the family’s hysteria.
As we move into 2020, we see even more works of similar cinematic style (such as this month’s The Lodge). It’s weird in a way to realize that The Witch, a film that has greatly impacted the horror genre, is only four years old. Robert Eggers really hit it out of the park with his debut film. His sophomore picture, The Lighthouse, also proved to be a brilliant tale that involved folkloric depth.
New England has always been a land of horror. In revisiting the land’s history and presenting such a unique story, Eggers has helped to kick off a new wind in horror – one that is ethereal in its emotional explorations. The Witch’s unsettling tension, environmental mood, and thematic depths will easily cement it as one of the most significant horror films of the 2010s.
