A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I rarely ever write reviews anymore- refuse to rate films on a 1-10 scale- and NEVER watch trailers (you guys who watch them- do you also answer phone calls telling you you've been selected to go on a cruise for free?). I, however, felt the urge to write a little concerning Eggers' The Witch- since I watched (and enjoyed) it and, after reading such disparate reviews I felt like chiming in with my own take. I'll let you in on a little secret, if I hear about a film and want to decide if it's worth seeing, I come to IMDB and read the user reviews. If the film has many high AND low ratings from users-it's worth a try. The Witch was just such a film- horror films that are criticized for being "slow" and having "like no plot" in the low ratings are a slam dunk to be good. This is really a very nice little film- but it could have been so much better. I felt that the director was probably made to compromise his vision of the psychological breakup of a Puritan family due to various issues (religious fervor, isolation, jealousy, insecurity, and most importantly the onset of puberty). I find it hard to believe that Eggers ever really intended for the satanic forces to be made visible to the audience (at least not in the sensational way they are)- the viewing of the witch and the baby early in the film destroys the possibility that what is going on here isn't really supernatural at all- and that is the lens through which this film presents its best face. I'd like to think he merely caved to pressure from "money guys" to "sex up his movie" to please the lower level viewers (and, indeed, he didn't even sex it up enough for those Philistines- who wouldn't know a great film if the screen fell forward onto their laps)- sadly this really hurts the film. I will say, however, that i will be anxiously waiting for his next film with the hope that as he achieves enough success he will be able to present his true vision. Developing.

Along with The Cabin in the Woods, It Follows, and perhaps also the first Insidious (2010...counting it), The Witch is EASILY, EASILY one of the greatest and most original horror movies of the current decade. The filmmakers went further than anyone has before in authentically recreating the time period and place, very early colonial New England, and the language the characters use may be initially off-putting but do what I did, turn subtitles on and make an effort to try to appreciate real historical accuracy that took a lot of effort in the face of being unpopular. If you are honest with yourself, you'll admit that you are following what's going on just fine and the realism is what sells the film. It gives more credit to the depiction of the "true" stories that were used to inspire the film. There is just the right amount of....witchery.... to be completely terrifying and seem as though it really could be something that really did happen. Any more focus away from a more "normal" setting, any more footage of witchcraft would have taken away from the power of what we ARE shown. Yes, it is a supernatural based horror film, but its dedication to historical accuracy makes it come off feeling so real, so possible, so plausible, and if you give yourself over to it, it becomes absolutely believable, as well as giving us today a better understanding of just how horrifying witchcraft was to people of that era, almost to the point of understanding why the witch trials of early America took such a hold over people, people who didn't have beliefs more rooted in science and reason. Witches were accepted as fact and if you submit to the movie and suspend that disbelief, you'll see how terrified those people might have been when coming face to face with what they believed to be credible stories of witches and witchcraft. And if it just did happen to be real, witchcraft I mean, this is the indisputably most accurate depiction of real witches. So glad to have been alive at a time like this and to have watched it. Harm None 3x3x3

A Puritan family gets banished from their community over a religious dispute. William ( Ralph Ineson) and Katherine( Kate Dickie) along with their five kids leave for the New England wilderness the oldest is Tomisen(Anya taylor Joy). The twins Mercy( Ellie Grainger) and Jonas ( Lucas Dawson) are the toddlers, then there is Caleb, second oldest. Caleb is a pre-teen and notices his sister a little too much. Everything seems to be going well until Tomisen plays peek-a boo with the baby( Sam). When she opens her eyes Sam vanishes. She tells her mom and Katherine is distraught. Little dose the family know that a witch lives out in the woods, and she has done some sacrifice with Sam. Then strange things begin to happen the crops begin to fail, the family will starve if they don't find other means of food. So William and Caleb go out to hunt, that when William tells Caleb that he sold a valuable piece of Katherine's. It was for money so they could get by. When they go hunting the dog spots something, but is killed. When they arrive back Mercy starts teasing Tomisen that she's a witch. Well when the family hears about this, every member starts to turn on one another. The animals begin to stop producing milk, and things just go down hill from there. One night Caleb goes out on his own, but is later seduced by a young witch. When he gets home he is barely alive, and eventually becomes possessed and dies. The parents begin not to trust the children, and their goat black Phillip is not what it seems. This movie explores the occult like no other film I watched has. It full of mystery, deception, and a great twist at the end. I gave it a 7, but really it deserves a 7.5. Regardless of your taste in horror movies this is one I would highly recommend.

This movie sucked. It had so much potential and then wasted it. I hate movies that ruin it with the ending. I hate loose ends and this movie had quite a few. Yuck.