How 'The Witch' Subverts Modern Horror Expectations
By Eryn Swann
Robert Eggers’ 2015 horror film The Witch (stylized as The VVitch) follows a Puritan family in 1630s New England as they are banished from their religious community, due to growing fringe beliefs, and embark on restarting their life in a secluded forest.
Upon the arrival to the isolated field near the woods, the slow burning first act involves the construction of the family home along with the continuation of traditional and religious family values. Following this, the family’s suspicions about the supernatural progress as the eldest daughter Thomasin, is held responsible for the negligence of the youngest family member; a baby, which leads to its abduction. Eggers depicts this through the playing of peek-a-boo by Thomasin. Utilizing the rule of three, Eggers is able to create a level of tension in the first two joyful reactions of both Thomasin and baby Samuel until the final reveal, when Thomasin opens her eyes and her face becomes gaunt with her smile immediately falling. The camera then pans down onto the empty blanket where baby Samuel once laid with the immediate and silent tracking, from the perspective of Thomasin’s eyes, to the trail through the wheatfield where the baby was taken. This scene initiates the unease of an unwelcome stranger entering a safe compound that silently, albeit unnervingly, upends the balance of both the family’s dynamics and their belief system; leading to the loss of order and innocence. While Thomasin is blamed for the result of Samuel’s kidnapping, the consequential conclusion by the family is the presence of a witch that resides in the forest. Eggers is able to further build a chilling atmosphere by then revealing the existence of the witch as she murders the child in her dwelling, by implementing both the absence of music and diegetic sounds to augment her movement in the woods.
Furthermore, Eggers’ ability to resist the modern urge to provide close ups and the graphic depiction of Samuel’s death enhances the eerie atmosphere where the witch is shown. Eggers effectively achieves this by restraining the camera from a set distance away from the subject for the entirety of the scene. By not revealing the witch up close creates mystery for the viewer’s expectation of the physical appearance of the witch, but results in the feeling of intrusion upon observing the witch.
Following her younger brother Caleb’s brief disappearance and near death at the hands of the witch in the second act, in addition to her father’s theft and deception, Thomasin’s presence in the family becomes increasingly strained. Facing growing scrutiny for not having yet found a husband and accusation of deliberate negligence of her siblings, Thomasin’s morality and purity is called into question. While the family’s increasing abandonment of logic and ensuing madness is not depicted with great intensity; thereby lacking both the common stereotypical screaming dialogue and dramatic physical actions, the unravelling of the family is a quiet but painful one. With the growing frenzy of the family matriarch Katherine, who refuses to view her as a daughter and her first-born child, scorns Thomasin’s existence and subsequent behaviours and failures. Thus, by retracting her maternal bond, Eggers displays Katherine’s crazed animosity towards her child as one reminiscent of wild animals, particularly felines, who when faced with their juvenile offspring equalling them in both skill and maturity, react viciously towards their emerging rivals. This parental disseverment leads Katherine to break the tenets she holds sacred in order to kill the thing she suspected of being evil all along: Thomasin.
Recurrently, by adopting a realistic narrative of the breaking down of the familial system through a simplistic depiction, Eggers is able to present the pain of Thomasin’s necessity to take her mother’s life to deservingly live. This scene is disparate to the typical horror climax in which the battle between good and evil is an exhausting and tense-filled portrayal. Instead, Eggers is able to evoke the agonizing dread of the expected death of the family and hence, the death of one’s identity within the family which then ultimately leads to Thomasin’s acquaintance with the devil. This pivotal scene is simplistic yet proves unexpected, without the intrusion of sharp background music; but rather just the cracking of a candle flame and the dialogue between the two characters. As Thomasin meets with Black Phillip, the family goat, a momentary glimpse of a goat leg shifting to a human one is shown before panning back to Thomasin. When Thomasin again requests Black Phillip to speak to her, Eggers keeps the camera solely focused on her candle-lit face and chest adorned with the spattering of her mother’s blood. Black Phillip grants her request and speaks in a slow, sultry whisper as he entices her with desirable freedoms with the chance to “taste […] butter” and “live deliciously.” Consequently, Thomasin’s desire for freedom leads Black Phillip to “guide [her] hand” to sign her name in his book. With the sound of a single church bell gong, The Witch enters its anticipated conclusion.
Eggers’ ending is truly one to behold. Not only is it satisfying, but considerably intriguing which leaves the viewer with a feeling of dread and chill as they witness Thomasin’s abandonment of her faith and familial attachment. As Thomasin ventures further into the forest and comes upon the witches’ bonfire, Eggers accentuates the unsettling unknown of her decision with the devil by amplifying the tribal screams of the witches. Standing in front of the bonfire, the viewer observes as Thomasin intrudes on the witches’ ritual as they begin to ascend above the flames.
Abandoning the repressive traditions she was accustomed to, along with the tragedy of the loss of her family, Thomasin soars into the sky; laughing uncontrollably as she revels in the supposed freedom of her new life. Eggers’ deliberate decision to show the witches from a distance adds to the intrigue of these folklore figures until it can be realised that from the first act, the viewer is entirely watching Thomasin, and are actually being shown the transformation and subsequent reveal of Eggers’ depiction of the true witch.