LogFAQs > #965325229

Thesmark - The language, sets/location, cinematography, clothes, its just a wholly unique level of authenticity, filled with atmosphere. The cast (featuring the breakout performance for Anya Taylor-Joy) and the score fit perfectly too. Beyond just themes (arrogance/pride of man being able to conquer nature/the unknown, patriarchy and the place of women in young America (along with their burgeoning womanhood), the tension keeps rising so effectively, and theres a human element to all of it: the characters are not just there to be symbols for something. And what an ending! Ive seen The Witch a couple of times now and it continues to delight me and yes, it is my favorite film in the whole ranking.

Its funny, the only change I thought about for the movie is not to reveal whether the witches are real or not less than 10 minutes into the movie. Then again, there are plenty of movies like that where the whole thing rides the line between madness and the thing being real only for the movie to lose steam at the end once we know-moving it up to the beginning makes the film not about that anymore.

I agree with everything that was said here, 100%, and I even had that exact same thought about the witch reveal. I don't think it makes things any less interesting, though. Even though we're aware of the existence of outside witches, the characters aren't, and it leads to a lot of interesting scenes. You still have that slow spiral into madness as the family starts doubting each other and while I think the whole "wait is this real or not" could've been fun, he sort've did the same thing with The Lighthouse and I liked that significantly less.

Plus it helps establish that incredible opening scene that sets the tone for the entire film. I think it's better with it in, imo.