The Witch | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
Directed by | Robert Eggers |
Produced by |
|
Written by | Robert Eggers |
Starring |
|
Music by | Mark Korven |
Cinematography | Jarin Blaschke |
Edited by | Louise Ford |
Production
company |
|
Distributed by | A24 |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
93 minutes |
Country |
|
Language | English |
Budget | $3 million |
Box office | $40.4 million |
The Witch (stylized as The VVitch, subtitled A New-England Folktale) is a 2015 historical period supernatural horror film written and directed by Robert Eggers in his directorial debut and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson. The film follows a Puritan family encountering forces of evil in the woods beyond their New England farm.
An international co-production of the United States and Canada, the film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2015 and was widely released by A24 on February 19, 2016. The film received critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $40 million against a budget of $3 million.
In 17th century New England, a man named William is threatened with banishment from a Puritan plantation alongside his wife Katherine, daughter Thomasin, son Caleb, and fraternal twins Mercy and Jonas, due to a difference in interpretation of the New Testament. The family decides to leave the church and the plantation it controls and builds a farm by the edge of a large, secluded forest far from the Puritan settlement. Katherine soon gives birth to her fifth child, Samuel. While Thomasin closely babysits Samuel, a witch living in the woods kidnaps him from right under her nose. The witch crushes his body to pulp and uses it to make a flying ointment for her body.
Katherine, devastated, spends her days crying and praying. William takes Caleb hunting in the forest and confides to his son that he traded Katherine's silver cup for hunting supplies. On the farm, the twins play with the family's goat, Black Phillip, who, they claim, speaks to them. That night, Katherine questions Thomasin about the disappearance of her silver cup while implying Thomasin was responsible for the disappearance of Samuel. After the children retire to bed, they overhear their parents discussing sending Thomasin away to serve another family.