Monday 18 July 2016

The Witch — Crikey!

18th July, 2016.

Can I make a confession, here?

Can I … ?

I’m NOT a video gamer.

You can possibly tell, can’t you … ?

Oh, I play video games.

And happen to have concluded that Pac the Man X, by McSebi Software, is a better implementation of the game, than the official Mac version of Pac-man that Namco released on the App Store while back.

And now seem to have mysteriously withdrawn.

At ANY rate?

At ANY rate, I tend to chose not to spend my spare time playing computer games.

No, I TEND to prefer movies, TV shows, music — I’m listening to an internet radio station as we speak — to games.

Tonight?

Tonight, I’ve had some spare time.

And enough credit on my iTunes store account to rent a film.

The film in question?

Was the 2015 release from Robert Eggers, The Witch.

‘Crikey’ … ?

‘Crikey’ doesn’t even start!

~≈Ê≈~

Set in 1630 New England, The Witch sees Will (Ralph Ineson), and his family — wife Katherine (Kate Dickie), daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), son Caleb, and fraternal twins Mercy and Jonas — being exiled from their Puritan community: to start a farm in some of the wilder areas of the colony.

Out in the outback, eldest daughter, Thomasin, is babysitting Samuel: the baby of the family.

Who disappears from her sight: between blinks of the proverbial eye.

The family blame wolves: this is a New England still haunted by all sorts of creatures.

But there’s a lot in the nearby woods the Family really wouldn’t want to know about.

It’s only when Will and Caleb, the family’s oldest son, go hunting … ?   That things start to go really back …

~≈Ê≈~

Now …

‘Crikey’ … ?

Oh, LORD, yes!

As in ‘Crikey, that’s one MAD film!’

The Witch is certainly …

Maybe ‘mad’ isn’t the word.

I’ve just sat through an unnervingly atmospheric film: one that shares its unnervingness with few other films.

Certainly, the only others I can think of with a similar feel are The Babadook and A Field In England.

Personally?

I loved both the latter films: in part because they went for unnerving, rather than out and out body horror.   They’re personal gold standards, in other words.

The Witch?

Is the only other film I’ve come across that’s got quite the same feel.

Go watch it!
The Witch
★★★★

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