The Witch

Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 23,2015

Winner of the Sundance Directing Award, Robert Eggers

Plot (Spoiler Alert)

New England 1630, William and his family of five, wife Katherine, daughter Thomasin, son Caleb and twins Mercy and Jones have been banished due to a disagreement of beliefs. They make a new life for themselves out in the middle of nowhere. They do fine for themselves at first, but their luck is about to change. There is a witch living out in the woods and she is tearing the family apart one by one. Thomasin is being suspected of being a witch.

Blaine: For Robert Eggers, making “The Witch” wasn’t about making a horror film, it was more about sharing something personal and creating something unique. Robert Eggers had nightmares about witches in his youth and he wanted to share those nightmares through film. Robert also wanted “The Witch” to take place in his home of New England. Robert is big on researching things and he would study New England's history growing up. Robert presented “The Witch” to studios before a script existed, but they all turned it down. Robert felt that more needed to be added to “The Witch”, so he spent a lot of time studying more stuff. He looked through tons of books of New Englands history in the 1600s in order to help him with the script. Robert managed to write a script that was so scary to read. The script was almost like Stephen King mixed with Edger Allen Poe. It had everything to convince a studio to say yes. A24 studios is very supportive of the creative arts and they gave Robert the yes answer he was waiting for.

Robert needed actors that were not only very skilled, but also could say the dialog well. The dialog in the script was very popular. It’s the type of dialog any actor would want to read. Robert is big on Shakespeare and other languages. He studied the way people talked back in the 1600s through books and a bible. Actors Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie have studied Shakespeare for years and reading the dialog in “The Witch” script was on the same level as speaking Shakespeare. The both of them also had a lot of experience in acting through their careers. Ralph and Kate were very excited to be apart of this project because they admired Robert Eggers. Reading Robert’s script was unlike anything else, and they loved how passionate Robert is in making films and doing research.

The casting director found a young actress who would be perfect to play Thomasin, Anya Taylor Joy. Anya had never been in a movie before, but she had been training hard to become an actress. Robert could see that Anya had a mysterious side to her and with Thomasin, it’s hard to tell if she is a witch or not. Anya was pleased to be given a main part in the film. Anya made sure she did everything to make her performance something to remember.

The performances done by the actors from young to old are really impressive and so dramatic. The scenes that I’m most impressed with are when Caleb is on his death bed saying a prayer, and then there’s the scene where Ralph Ineson’s character, William, is begging God to save his children.

Robert needed a location that was nothing but nature. “The Witch” was shot in the middle of a nowhere area in Canada. Robert originally wanted “The Witch" to be shot in New England sense that’s where the film takes place, but there wasn’t enough money in the budget to shoot in New England. The production designers didn’t have to do much. All they had to build was a farm house and that was it. Shooting the film only lasted a month and Robert was disappointed that he didn’t get every shot he wanted. Some of the shots of sceneries didn’t please Robert. He added them into the film though because they were the only pieces of footage that he had. Robert may not like a lot of the shots in his film, but “The Witch” is thought of a well shot movie by people.

Robert didn’t want “The Witch” to be one of those horror films with visual effects. Visual effects would just get in the way of the plot and Robert wanted the audience to focus on the story. “The Witch” did require a few visual effects.

Thomasin is a member of the family, but it was hard to tell if she was blood related or not. I mean William and Katherine have a conversation about sending Thomasin off to another family, and it sounded like Thomasin was a servant who helps around more than a family member. Plus there are a few scenes that would show Caleb looking at Thomasin's chest. My dad looked it up and said that Thomasin is a member of the family. He also said that because the family were Puritans, they believe they are sinners. Thomasin is reaching puberty and her sexuality is blossoming. Several times her younger brother, Caleb, is seen checking his sister out and trying to peer down the top of her dress. In those times with puritans when women showed their sexuality, they were accused of being witches.

Caleb is young, but he is reaching an age where he will find women attractive. He goes out into the woods to go looking for the baby brother that was taken by the witch in the woods. Caleb comes across this house in the ground, and this attractive woman steps out dressed as Red Ridding Hood. She lures Caleb in with her attractiveness. Little does Caleb know is that it is a disguise. The mysterious woman is actually a witch. She uses the disguise because she knows what attracts Caleb, even though this is something new for him. The mysterious woman was played by model Sarah Stephens. Working on “The Witch” was different from the work she has done in her modeling career. When it comes to photoshoots, the makeup team applies makeup on Sarah to make her look good. On “The Witch”, makeup wasn’t needed. Dirt was applied on to Sarah’s skin to give her more of a creepy look. Harvey Scrimshaw, who plays Caleb, was nervous to be kissing Sarah in that scene because it was his first time ever kissing a girl. Sarah was nervous too, not because she had to kiss Harvey, but because this was the first time she was acting in a film, even though her scene only lasts less than two minutes.

In the end it is revealed that Thomasin was a witch all along or she becomes a witch. She is the only surviver of her family. She speaks to Black Phillip, an evil spirit who takes the form of a goat, and he offers her eternal life. And then he leads her to a group of witches gathering around a fire. The witches in this film are not big fans of clothes. They like to be naked a lot, even if the weather is cold out. Thomasin is accepting her new place in life.

“The Witch” premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was the biggest hit there.

My rating on “The Witch” is five out of five stars.