The Witch: A New England Folktale

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Robert Eggers/Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Lucas Dawson and Ellie Grainger

I recently attended a Halloween Horror Movie Marathon at my favorite movie house where the program was a bracing mix of various sub-genres. But one film that I considered to be the gem of the marathon and one of the best films of the year is a stunner called The Witch: A New England Folktale; director Robert Eggers' first feature length film. And what a debut! The story of a family trying to eke out a meager existence in the untamed and unforgiving wilds of 17th century New England is made more harrowing by a witch, who terrorizes the family in frightening, diabolical ways. Eggers' film reaches for authenticity, with period-appropriate dialogue and natural lighting. The film also has the gritty feel of hardship and deprivation. The story is convincing, which is due in part to said authenticity. Of course its success has much to do with its other conspicuous qualities.

Early on, the family is seen being expelled from a colonial town after facing a town tribunal. Unwilling to bow to the town's oppressive religious authority, William (Ralph Ineson) and his family exit the town as the large, wooden gates close behind them with a grim finality. Left to their own devices, William builds a home in the wilderness near the forest edge.

Amid the struggles to survive in an inhospitable environment, William and his wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) also have a brood they must provide for. The eldest is their daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy); a girl at the threshold of womanhood, while their eldest son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), is pubescent who is lasciviously aware of the womanly aspects of his older sister. There is also Jonas (Lucas Dawson) and Mercy (Ellie Grainger) and their infant sibling.

One day, as Thomasin is watching over the baby; playing a harmless game of peek-a-boo, she uncovers her eyes to find the baby has vanished. Horrified, she looks to the forest, the most likely path of abduction. A frantic, fruitless search is undertaken. The scene cuts to a dark interior, where an old woman stands naked; her wrinkled, old frame contrasts sharply with the baby's smooth skin. As the witch hovers over the baby with a knife in hand, the scene cuts mercifully away, though we learn of the baby's grisly fate later as the old woman lubricates her body and what looks like a broom with a red substance whose nature we can easily surmise.

As a grief-stricken Katherine prays passionately for her child, other dramas and developments unfold. We see Caleb begin to notice his sister's bosom; his emerging sex drive very apparent. A more serious incident arises when Thomasin, angry with Jonas and Mercy, tells them she is a witch; frightening them with details about her fictitious, infernal arts. As we see later, her seemingly harmless scare-tactic has serious repercussions.

Thomasin's womanhood becomes a cause for her parent's concern. Thomasin overhears her parents discussing plans to marry her off, which causes her great distress.

The witch begins to further torment the family when Caleb, wandering alone in the forest, comes upon her lair. She emerges from her sinister-looking hovel as a beautiful, full-figured woman and a dangerous lure for a boy just discovering his sexuality. The encounter proves to be frightening, as the seductress becomes something other than what Caleb sees. The loss of their baby still fresh in their minds, William and Katherine search for Caleb, which again proves fruitless. The children accuse Thomasin, citing her admission earlier as proof. Katherine also begins to suspect her daughter, which threatens to fracture familial unity.

Later, Caleb staggers in the front yard naked and weak; his face bearing trauma from his encounter with the witch. Hovering between life and death in feverish delirium, he succumbs to the witch's evil.

The witch's designs on the family continues, with both catastrophic and unusual results; subjecting the family to misfortunes more terrible than the ravages of hunger and deprivation can exact.

Given how little we see the witch in the film, it's amazing how well Eggers maintains a heightened level of fear and dread. It is also interesting that Eggers' marries factual, colonial history with horror. The hardscrabble lives of the colonists were partly characterized by their staunch adherence to scripture and a real fear of witches and demons; convictions that would one day lead to the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. Eggers knows we know the history, which abets his excellent storytelling. But he goes one step further by giving credence to the colonialist fears of witches. Excellent idea, which proves to be an effective premise for a horror film.

The story also takes on Biblical symbolism. The family's exile from the town mirrors Adam and Eve's expulsion from paradise. This figurative expulsion leaves the family prey to the good and evil of the world; mostly evil. Later, during Caleb's death throes, he expels something from his mouth, which turns out to be an apple. The symbolism is unmistakable. For Caleb, the forbidden knowledge the apple represents is his sexual awakening, which is consummated when he encounters the witch. It is interesting to note that after the apple is disgorged from his mouth, we see a bite has been taken out of it. For Thomasin, expulsion from paradise means self-determination rather than acceding to her parent's plans to marry her off against her will. We can see how the witch, specifically the devil-- who we see later incarnated as the family's scary-looking black goat--would be an attractive alternative to church and God. A witch's coven's seductive charms present the means for her liberation from an unhappy fate as someone's husband and freedom from Christianity's rigid strictures. The final scene presents compelling corroboration. For Katherine, Eden isn't the town from which they came but England, which she yearns for when the family's troubles continue to mount. Like Thomasin and Katherine, a woman's volition counted for nothing at the time; a fact that doesn't escape Eggers' notice.

Animals serve as frightening agents of evil in the story. A rabbit; one of the witch's incarnations, glares at William and Caleb as a hunting rifle is leveled to take its life. He escapes when the gun backfires into William's face. The rabbit makes another appearance later. The black goat is the more frightening presence. William, Katherine and Thomasin learn he is more than just a barnyard animal when Jonas and Mercy claim they have been speaking to him.

If there is a quibble I have with the film, I would say it is the dialogue. Though wonderfully authentic-sounding, it is often difficult to understand. The character's thick British Isles accents present a problem. It might be wise for the filmmakers to include subtitles when the film is released.

I heard a very audible gasp from the audience after the screening. It seemed to make a considerable impression on all who watched it. Eggers' film left me feeling exhilarated. The Witch preceded a screening of the recently released Goodnight Mommy, another disturbing and affective film. It was quite a night for horror.

The film won't be on screens until February '16. It's a long wait, considering I want to see it again. That doesn't happen often to me. Like Caleb walking in a trance toward the witch, so will I to a screening of the film in February. I, like you, will be happily bewitched.