This film is set in New England sometime in the 1630s. Following a religious disagreement a family; William, his wife Katherine, teenage daughter Thomasin, son Caleb and young twins Mercy and Jonas, leave the settlement and make a new home in a remote area. Katherine gives birth to another boy but one day the baby vanishes. Problems mount for the deeply religious family as they can't grow enough food and hunting is unsuccessful. As things get worse and worse William and Katherine start to suspect that Thomasin may be a witch! Is the devil really at work or are they gradually going mad?

If you want lots of violence, gore, death and scary moments you are likely to be disappointed... however if you like psychological horrors with an increasing sense of paranoia and dread this should be just the thing for you. The remote setting creates a great atmosphere. For most of the film I wondered whether the characters fear would be proven real or ultimately exposed as a delusion brought on by stress and religious fervour. The use of period language added to the sense of realism even when things were getting strange. The small central cast in impressive; most obviously Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays Thomasin and Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie who play William and Catherine respectively. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of atmospheric horror that don't require constant excitement.

To say I didn't get what I was expecting is a huge understatement, I was expecting a run of the mill horror, with all the usual cliches, obvious and blatant scares, etc, but instead I got to watch ninety minutes of rather subtle, intelligent and subtle horror. The film is hugely atmospheric, moody and tense, it is visually fantastic, with great scenery and costumes. The story unfolds cleverly, when I think of witches, this is what comes to mind, as opposed to the more conventional. As you watch you never quite know what's coming next, or who the malign force truly is. Some truly unsettling and disturbing scenes, it's not a horror in the conventional sense, the scares are not cheap, but very poignant. Very good performance from the cast, Ralph Inseson and Kate Dickie in particular. On occasion the dialogue sounded a little flat, but it was in keeping with the setting of the movie.

Very watchable.

THE WITCH is a well-regarded slice of historical horror set in Puritan America in 1630. The plot follows a single farming family as they relocate to the woods to raise their children and livestock, only to find their lives blighted by hints of witchcraft. That this film works for the most part is because it takes a realistic approach to the material, focusing on the psychology of the characters involved rather than sticking to CGI ghosts or demons or jump scares. Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie are reliably good in support, but the main joy here is in the careful, subdued lead performance from Anya Taylor-Joy, who tackles a difficult role and makes it entirely sympathetic. The one thing I dislike about this film is the cheap, depressing digital look, full of greys and browns and blues and little life from beginning to end; this kind of visuality is already a modern horror cliche and it could do with being stamped out. The twist ending is also extremely stupid. Otherwise, check this out.