The Witch is about New England witchcraft paranoia, but don’t expect another Salem story
The movie, from New Hampshire writer-director Robert Eggers, opened Friday.
The Witch, which bills itself as a “New England folktale,’’ is about a family razed by witchcraft in 17th-century New England. But if you see it this weekend, don’t anticipate another interpretation of the events that took place in Salem in 1692. In fact, The Witch tells a story of panic over witchcraft and evil at a smaller scale and takes place about 60 years before the Salem witch trials.
It could also, arguably, be the origin story to all of that paranormal hysteria to come.
“A lot of people see it that way, which is totally cool,’’ said Robert Eggers, director-writer of The Witch.
He’s a New Hampshire-ite himself, but now lives in Brooklyn. Originally a film production designer, Eggers won the award for Best Director for The Witch at Sundance Film Festival in 2015.
The Witch follows a 17th-century New England family who’s been banished from their village for being too religious. They end up in a secluded homestead by an ominous forest. Things take a turn for the worse when the baby is kidnapped right from under the eyes—literally—of Thomasin, the eldest daughter, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. It’s a straight-up terrifying horror film, but one that aims to explore the evil in humanity rather than get you to scream.
The movie has all the themes of paranoia, religion, and darkness fit for a Salem witch setting. But for Eggers, taking on the scale of Salem would’ve been too much to afford. And he wouldn’t have wanted to, anyway.
Eggers was interested in “the very, very, very beginnings’’ of the Puritans and Pilgrims colonizing New England.
“Even though it wasn’t the Middle Ages, it was almost like the Middle Ages in North America,’’ Eggers said. In the film, Thomasin and her family live minimally—they build their lives from scratch.
Eggers said that some of the witchcraft myths and devices documented throughout history might appear in his movie. “The same tropes happened over and over and over again,’’ Eggers said. However, he said he made a conscious effort to stay away from using references from Salem.
In other words, if you’re expecting a story about the Proctors and Giles Corey, you won’t find it at the movie theater this weekend. But The Witch won’t let down if you go for a cautionary tale about theological paranoia. And it will truly, deeply, and undoubtedly scare the living the crap out of you.
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