The Witch

 The Witch (from Weird and Wonderful II: Fifty More Cult Films by George Hughes, available from www.freefall-productions.com)

2015 / US-Canada / 92 minutes

“Damn your Black Phillip!”

Director: Robert Eggers / Screenplay: Robert Eggers / Director of Photography: Jarin Blaschke / Music: Mark Korven / Production: Daniel Bekerman, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Rodrigo Teixeira and Jay Von Hoy for Code Red Productions / Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy (Thomasin), Ralph Ineson (William), Kate Dickie (Katherine), Harvey Scrimshaw (Caleb), Lucas Dawson (Jonas), Ellie Grainger (Mercy), Sarah Stephens (The Witch).

New England, the 1630’s. Miserable Puritan couple William (Ralph Ineson) and Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their long- suffering children are banished from Plymouth Colony after a religious dispute and relocate to a farm near a large, secluded forest. Soon after arriving, Katherine gives birth to their fifth child, Samuel.

   The two eldest children, Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) have started to mature and question their parents’ beliefs and Katherine is especially disapproving of Thomasin and suggests sending her away to serve another family. Meanwhile, twins Jonas (Lucas Dawson) and Mercy (Ellie Grainger) spend most of their time playing with the family’s goat, Black Phillip.

   After Samuel mysteriously disappears, Thomasin and Caleb venture into the woods in search of the witch they believe took him. Becoming separated from Thomasin, Caleb is entranced by a beautiful woman (Sarah Stephens) who transforms into a witch and abducts him too. William eventually finds Thomasin and brings her home where Katherine blames her for the loss of her brothers, accusing her of being in league with the witch.

   Later, Caleb returns to the farm but he is in a delirious state and dies the following day. After singing songs about Black Phillip and talking to him, the twins claim the goat speaks back to them and accuse Thomasin of witchcraft. William tells Thomasin she will be put on trial in town but she points out the sins he has committed himself according to his own belief system.

   William locks Thomasin and the twins in the barn, no longer trusting any of them. Meanwhile, Katherine experiences a vision of Caleb and Samuel, driving her further into madness. After the twins disappear, Black Phillip attacks William and finally speaks to Thomasin too- offering her the chance to become what she’s already accused of being…

   Based on real accounts of alleged witchcraft from the time of its setting, The Witch is a superb example of the modern “Elevated Horror” film. Rather than relying on gore or jump scares, debut writer / director Robert Eggers instead creates a heightened mood of dread and impending doom throughout (recalling the celebrated and rarely equalled likes of Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) and Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) for style and atmosphere).

   The film begins with the day to day oppression of Puritanism before the supernatural elements even come into play (if, indeed, any are really occurring- there are subtle hints throughout that they may not be). Like most religious extremists, William and Katherine are literally waiting to die when things will be better and when Thomasin is asked “Love you prayer? Love you God?” (the dialogue is all in Old English), it’s impossible to imagine how anyone in such an environment ever could.

   Shot in Canada on a low budget with a limited and then mostly unknown cast (Ineson was the best known for his TV work in the UK- Eggers wanted English actors for the family members), The Witch utilises an expressionist style, with cinematographer Jarin Blaschke using only natural and available light for the whole film.

   Anya Taylor-Joy, who has since became better known through her role in the fifth season of Peaky Blinders (2019), is the standout among the cast as Thomasin, a young woman in a similar situation to Carrie White in Carrie (1976) whose natural development is seen as evil by the culture she’s born into. And like Carrie, Thomasin is eventually driven to actually commit the crime, having already served the sentence.

   And as good as the younger actors playing the rest of the children are too, it’s the exceptional performance of animal actor “Charlie the Billy Goat” as Black Phillip that almost steals the film. Apparently extremely difficult and completely untrained (he put Ineson in hospital after ramming him in the ribs), Charlie got the part because he had the biggest horns out of all the goats that were auditioned. He’s said to have since retired to a field near the film’s locations.