2.2
(E3s)
The Witch is genuinely evil, and so, genuinely frightening. In my opinion this is for three reasons;
1) The film's sophisticated execution - the period and the mood is painted almost immaculately. The language is convincingly acted, and although I struggled to understand the heavy accents, this added to the frighteningly alien quality of the film.
2) There is an underlying Bergman-esque claustrophobia and hysteria - a very human and psychological evil lurking beneath the family members. There are haunting…
Works well as an atmospheric slow burn character based thriller. But the politics is under-developed. It works in and as much as it informs the characters, but it makes the final frame emptier than it needed to be. It's a decent film which could easily have been a lot better - a woke Paul Schrader.
3.5