PLOT SUMMARY: A family is excommunicated and try to begin life anew but after an unforeseen event, the eldest, Thomasin, is accused of being a witch.
Don’t go down the woods today. For deep in the woods, danger lurks that will feed upon you, destroying everything that makes you strong.
You have been warned, be careful when you wander into the woods.
Such is the story of ‘The Witch’. Set in a bygone era, the story circles around a family, excommunicated from the plantation and made to leave their home. They quickly settle near the woods and begin their lives until an unforeseen event throws their lives into turmoil.
This is the basic premise of the movie and I was eager to watch it when I read the summary. Now I have to admit that I was tempted to switch it off after watching the first part of the movie. I have watched a couple of low budget horror movies lately, which though rated low on leading review websites, turned out to be actually decent. When the first scene came along and the language stayed true to the era but not easily understood, I thought: well, here goes my lucky streak.
I don’t know why I still watched it after a very disturbing scene, but carried on I did. Here’s what I didn’t like about the movie: When you are writing a story, as a writer, you know exactly what’s happening and what is happening next. You know the context, but the audience is experiencing your story for the first time and therefore, they would not understand the events unless the writing is eloquent.
In this case, though the story had some frightening moments and enough drama to keep you hooked, some of the subplot is lost to the audience, who after all are not sitting in the writer’s mind. Apart from the fact that the language spoken (although relevant to those times) was a bit difficult to comprehend, most of the story was never clearly explained.
The family was sent away because of the father being “too proud”...in what way? What happened to the twins in the end? Who is the witch residing in the woods? There’s a witch and a devil the family has to deal with?
So many questions that remain unanswered.
My take on this very obscure story was this: The family was preyed upon evil forces because each one of them had sinned. The father was too proud, the mother perhaps did not love all her children and perhaps had an affair, the son- Caleb- had sinful thoughts and the twins were insolent and disrespected their sister. Thomasin, the eldest I think, was the only one who though flawed, confessed her sins and was truly pious.
Perhaps this is why the devil, in the form of a black goat, is eager to entice Thomasin. In this case, the devil doesn’t want its victim for himself, but to turn them into levitating witches.
It’s heartbreaking really, to see Thomasin deal with accusations regarding her baby brother’s disappearance and Caleb’s death. She’s a girl living in tough times where any unfeminine act, immediately brands her as a medium of the devil- a witch.
You can’t help feel sympathy for Thomasin who tries so hard to love a family undeserving of her adoration. She is mocked by her younger siblings and cursed by her parents. Toward the end, after being accused of being behind the disappearance of the twins, Thomasin is shown to finally give in to the evil side. She speaks to the black goat who turns out to be Satan himself. Giving herself up to him, she agrees to join the coven of witches.
Usually, when I see a horror movie with a high score, I immediately decide that it is going to be a drama with bits of frightening scenes thrown in that are inadequate to the basic plot. Fortunately, The Witch does justice to its genre and sustains the right amount of macabre. It is gruesome and disturbing in parts and will make you cringe. Not for the faint of heart, but for those who like things just a little different.
Scare Scale: 3/5
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