The VVitch (2016) - Perils involving goats and home schooled children

chaw's review is 100% otm and great and within like two friggin' sentences way too spoileriffic for anyone who has not seen the movie to read. i am sad that it exists. DO NOT READ THE FILM FREAK REVIEW!!! just go see the movie and have yourself a time and then come back and maybe read it.

olde new england is in my dna so i liked this a lot

this was not as good as it should have been imo

i would have far preferred it to have ended at the first big blackout, when a few things were still ambiguous. if it had ended then it would have been a beautifully-shot allegory whose various paths of witchery lie tangled and unresolved across the family unit - a beguiling curio. but then everything just had to get all on-the-nose

once I realized it was Finch from the Office I kept remembering that character and it was messing w/ me.

but then everything just had to get all on-the-nose

it's a documentary; they had to stick to what actually happened.

i liked finding out at the end that the girl had some cakes hiding under those robes

I disagree big time Imago, I was relieved it wasn't like that because for all the talk of that kind of ambiguity being an alternative or novel, I find it all too common, cheap and very rarely working to great effect.

This is waaaay better than I expected. One of my favourite films of recent years. So many great scenes.

Everyone was great in it. Anya Taylor-Joy has the most incredible film face I've seen since maybe Michael Shannon.

Pretty scary too.

Yes, I thought the final ten minutes or so pushed this film into greatness - very close to the spirit of Machen's The White People, a walk into the woods of forbidden desires. The look of terrified ecstasy on Anya Taylor-Joy's face in the final shot was sublime.

I don't know how well this will stand up under scrutiny, but a hell of an effective piece of filmmaking nonetheless. Incredible performances by the young actors and award-worthy cinematography and set decoration (if this were the kind of film that won awards).

it really felt like it was actually happening, i never felt any disconnect or anything that took me out of that world

that scene with the raven & the reveal the next morning that it was real (?) was soooooo ah god wtf is happening

and i love the the two little kids, they were so perfect

I'd read enough about the film in advanced to be prepared for some of the stuff that happened in it, but the raven was something that I definitely didn't see coming.

How good was the casting too, Mum & Dad looked like irl pilgrims

Parents were note perfect, but I just can't get over the performances he got out of these kids. Caleb's big scene was especially amazing.

i loved this. watched it after a few beers with all the lights off and it was v immersive.

Saw this the other week - thought it was great. The twins were so creepy, they were barely human; they reminded me of the little mutant kids from The Brood.

Finchy was great. I couldn't remember where I recognized that actor from until being reminded in this thread.

still think this is to folk horror as idk punk ipa is to craft beer

Loved this -- finally saw it last weekend. This is one of my favorite types of horror movie -- almost like a processional. No real 'twists'. There is a threatening force, the threatening force overwhelms all, the end. Also would like to echo la lechera's call for write in votes for black phillip this November

This is one of my favorite types of horror movie -- almost like a processional. No real 'twists'. There is a threatening force, the threatening force overwhelms all, the end.

Serious recommendation - if you haven't seen Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem, do.

otm. i was thinking afterwards that LoS had some sort of similar ~vibe~

currently streaming on amazong prime
https://www.amazon.com/Witch-Anya-Taylor-Joy/dp/B01BT3SEHM/

Anyone else notice the figure in the background in the woods?!

whaaaaat

time for a rewatch!

btw my wife read an article online somewhere that talked about how the goat who played black phillip was super naughty and intractable

yeah the special features on the bluray had some interviews where the director said they had way more scenes planned for black phillip but he was a nightmare basically

hahaha

i love the scene in the closed-up shed where BP is just looking into the middle distance and breathing super heavily, I bet he was working up to a tantrum

There are like a dozen levels upon which I thought this was masterfully done but I think one of the most effective elements was the film's adherence to naturally-lit scenes. The quality of the light always felt appropriate to a setting in the woods with no electricity. Seems like a no-brainer for this type of story but Hollywood often has no brains.

otm

good movie. my only criticism is guy from the office's voice was so gravelly that i could barely make out wtf he was saying. sounded like he was just angrily gargling at people

i turned on closed captioning from the getgo

ha ha i didn't realize it was finchy from the office. amazing. i just thought he looked like graham chapman.

i did not clock him at all either! wow

Finchy was the only thing that pulled me out of this movie a bit, because I think I'd only ever seen him in The Office and he'd done such a good job of convincing me that he was a disgusting human being that I was a little taken aback to see him playing something other than a disgusting human being.

Recently at the theater, I saw the main girl from this in two and possibly even three trailers before the movie. Good to see she's getting work.

I like his voice a lot, I appreciate that non-brits and some brits might find his accent hard to understand but I wouldn't change it. Thought he'd be more recognised from Game Of Thrones and Harry Potter. Apparently he's in Guardians Of The Galaxy.

I don't think there's a lot of good folk horror films. There's obviously Wicker Man and I've never been as into that as most people but it's still unique. Blood On Satan's Claw just isn't very good. Can't think of much that slots in that neatly.

guys, i'm seriously getting worried my family room and/or apple tv is haunted because apparently no one else out there has seen this figure in the woods.

I never watched The Office so...who was he playing? The dad?

yes the dad

he play the dad

When does the figure in the woods show up?

the scene when Caleb is in the woods on his own. pans into the shot on the right as he's walking.

or the figure is standing alone in a dark corner of my living room. waiting for me.

Wow, yeah, I just spotted it. That is creepy.

oh thank god.

i didn't go back to check – but there's also the scene where the mother is in her bed praying/sobbing, and you see her through the gap in the curtains – I noticed something moving above her, just barely in the shot. thought maybe it was a mic or some other slip-up; but now i'm not sure – am going to check when i get home.

this was amazing

re-watched this last night, still incredible. what a film.

the final sequence is so masterful and beautifully shot, it makes the payoff ("yes, everything that has been implied IS TRUE") so much more impactful. I don't think it diminishes all the ambiguities - about the nature of sin/redemption, family lies and dissembling, puritan repression/oppression, "wicked" children - at all.

Anything involving the death of children or evil children is hard for my wife to take (altho she agrees this film is great), but I told her hey, she had to kill the entire family otherwise she would never be free of all that puritan bullshit

Had to turn on the subtitles in order figure what the dang was being said, but yeah it was good.

in order to figure out

damn, now I need subtitles

best horror film in recent memory, and it's not really even close

i was hoping the revive would have some news about what eggers has been up to but i had to go look it up myself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lighthouse_(upcoming_film)

agree the final sequence of the vvitch is just about perfect.

this shit was terrifying and unnerving. I watched it right after watching Hereditary. What a nice night I had.

Willem Dafoe as Old

bit harsh

lol

the kid in the possession scene was acting so well I was terrified for him in real life

i wanna watch this again for Halloween

love everything abt this movie

AND i’m going to watch Lords of Salem

Now on Netflix, thinking about revvatching it soon.