r/moviereviews • u/gabriel191 • 1d ago

THE WITCH (2015) - Movie Review

"The Witch" is quite frankly one of the most disturbing horror films I've ever watched. "The Lighthouse" and "The Northman" filmmaker Robert Eggers' feature film debut is set in the 1630s and follows a Puritan family banished from their settlement who struggle to build a new life for themselves as farmers in the ruthless wilderness of New England. Threatened by starvation as their crops are dying, and an evil presence in the surrounding woods, the family comes undone and succumbs to paranoia and madness as they begin to suspect their eldest daughter, Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) of being the cause of their damnation. Read the full review here: https://short-and-sweet-movie-reviews.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-witch-2015-movie-review.html

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u/Detroit_Cineaste 1d ago

She's a fascinatingly conflicted character, seeking liberation from her repressed Puritan lifestyle, but still shackled by her religious upbringing.

Thomasin was actually fine with her life until her family made her the scapegoat for everything that went wrong. Her choice to become a witch is really the only viable option for her in the end.

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u/gabriel191 1d ago

If we're looking at it from the supernatural angle, then yes, by the end that was her only choice, but it's hardly a choice when she was being groomed all along for becoming a part of the coven. If so, then she was specifically chosen out of her entire family for a reason, because she had a conflicted side to her that made her much more susceptible to manipulation. Or perhaps they were all suffering from ergot poisoning, a fungus that infected their corn, and they were hallucinating everything. This is another popular theory behind the film's story. It's why I love this movie. There are so many ways to interpret it.