Plot:
Set in New England during the 1930s, a Puritan family is banished to a seclusive farm near a forest. Thomasin is playing peek-a-boo with her baby brother near the woods when he disappears. One by one, each family member is tormented by the unknown force in the forest.
Rate: 10/10
Review: [SPOILERS ALERT]
Listen. I’ve seen a good amount of horror movies. But The Witch messed up my mind because it’s enriched with symbolism, and it horrifies you because it can be real.
Watching the trailer, I was under the impression that this would be a basic movie about a mysterious witch that torments a village. WRONG. This is nowhere near basic and deserves far more praise and attention.
The Witch focuses on Thomasin who is becoming a young woman. When she loses her baby brother, she is guilt-ridden. Her other siblings, creepy twins, accuse her of being a witch. Tired and annoyed of her brother and sister, she frightens them by acting like a witch, which terrifies these young children, causing them to run off and tell their extremely religious parents.
Her family begins to become suspicious of her, and her parents begin to plan how to give Thomasin away in to another family because she is coming of age. However, it would be difficult given their family’s banishment and the suspicions of her being a witch. These suspicions grow when she takes her other brother (not one of the twins, she has another brother) to the woods to hunt, and she loses this brother as well.
Thomasin is continuously accused of being a witch. This isn’t a Crucible vibe. This is far more disturbing— not to mention the constant black goat appearing and killing the father, the baby being chopped up to create some kind of witch remedy, and the constant eerie tension.
I still love this movie because it depicts how much the people around us affect us. Her family didn’t believe her and constantly accused her of being evil, when she wasn’t. But this constant push made her into exactly who they made her out to be. This captures a problem in all of our lives. Perhaps, not to this extent, but pushing people off the edge will make them into the monsters you called them.
The last scene— I will tell you right now, will leave you questioning yourself. I’m torn between spoiling and diving into it. SO, if you’re going to watch the movie, don’t read the next part.
[ENDING SPOILERS———PLEASE DON’T READ IF YOU’RE GOING TO WATCH THE MOVIE.]
After the rest of her family dies, Thomasin is approached by the black goat who transforms into a man, who convinces her to sign her name in his book. She then goes to the woods without her garments, followed by the black goat. There, she finds a coven of witches dancing near a fire. Thomasin joins them and begins laughing.
Best ending ever. But still mentally scarring. Thomasin was innocent, but because her family didn’t believe in her, she turned to the Devil to find comfort and embraced the evil that was forced on her.
Recommend: Um.
Well…This is a movie you’ll never forget. It is rich with symbolism and beautiful, BUT it will mess you up. If you choose to watch it, don’t watch it alone. If not, that’s probably a good idea.
Trailer: