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THE WITCH – Mark Korven
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the most unexpected critical successes of 2016 is The Witch, a supernatural horror film set during the earliest days of the colonization of North America. The directorial debut of young filmmaker Robert Eggers, The Witch stars Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie as William and Katherine, who despite their exceptional devoutness, are banished from a Puritan Christian plantation in New England circa the year 1630. Months later, William and Katherine and their five children – including a newborn baby – are eking out a meager existence on a farm at the edge of a vast forest; one day, the baby is abducted by a mysterious figure while in the care of the eldest daughter, Tomasin (Anya-Taylor-Joy), adding more strain to the already desperate family. As time goes on, the almost fanatically religious family comes to believe that supernatural forces are at work, and the spectre of witchcraft comes to the fore, with the family’s two youngest children suspecting Tomasin of dabbling in the dark arts… Read more…