30 in 30: A MONTH OF HORROR. THE WITCH
DAY 27
THE WITCH (2015)
Post-Horror at its best.
I debated myself for a long time if I should put THE WITCH in a list of horror films. I ultimately decided for it because it IS a horror film, a slow-burning horror movie, but still a part of the family. Let’s welcome it with open arms.
What is Post-horror? The name comes from an article in The Guardian:
“(…) Some film-makers are starting to question what happens when you switch the flashlight off. What happens when you stray beyond those cast-iron conventions and wander off into the darkness? You might find something even scarier. You might find something that’s not scary at all. What could be emerging here is a new sub-genre. Let’s call it “post-horror.””
THE WITCH is primarily a movie about a family; it’s a drama about how a tragedy can destroy one of our closest bonds. We follow an outcast group of Puritans in 17th Century New England, as they prepare themselves for the coming winter. After the disappearance of their younger child, suspicion and paranoia takes hold in the family, blaming the eldest daughter of a terrible act against god: witchcraft.
What is Post-Horror to me? Atmosphere. To be frank, I don’t even know if we need the label. But let’s use it while its there. THE WITCH shines as a well-crafted story of paranoia, misplaced mysticism, and enveloping darkness. THE WITCH is a marvelous work of atmospheric filmmaking.
Besides Atmosphere, one of the most useful tools the filmmaker employs in this film is the empathy we develop for Thomasin, the eldest daughter. The slow pace is sustained by our fear of the plot moving forward because we fear if we go ahead then something terrible will happen to the wide-eyed young girl. The increasing religious superstition casts a tense and ominous shadow over the impoverished family.
The pace also heightens the sense of anxiety. The audience knows it’s a film, so they know something is going to happen. The question becomes “when.” It’s a ticking time bomb we don’t know when or how it is going to explode, but it will.
I find this film particularly interesting in the way it punishes the character for committing “sins,” but at the same time, it denounces religious paranoia. The father is exiled from his tribe for being prideful; he then gets murdered by the goat. One of the brothers is guilty of lust, which later a witch will use to manipulate and kill him. Then we learn that Black Phillip has orchestrated the downfall of the family, the goat has been Satan all along. All of this to get to Thomasin in one of the most spectacular endings I’ve ever witnessed in film.
The film punishes characters for their sins, while denouncing religious extremism because it’s a warning against hypocrisy. The family talks about a deep religious faith while at the same time falling for the evils they claim to be against. Thomasin is a victim of her family.
THE WITCH is a movie that teaches us that horror can be much more than guts, and blood. Atmosphere and drama can hold their own until the eventual explosive ending.
THE WITCH is a long setup up to a perfect punch line.
Thomasin: Black Phillip, I conjure thee to speak to me. Speak as thou dost speak to Jonas and Mercy. Dost thou understand my English tongue? Answer me.
Black Phillip: What dost thou want?
Tomorrow: KILL LIST (2011)
Yesterday: THE EVIL DEAD (1981)
