Stylized on its poster as The VVitch – leading to many hilarious moments of this writer pronouncing both v’s – Robert Eggers’ first feature film put his interest in historical horror front and center. Yet, I personally find this debut to be more interesting than his later works, which layer dense production design over plots that lose their grit in favor of slavish devotion to historical accuracy. The deceptively simple setting of a family on the edge of a forest in 1630s New England quickly unfurls into a “folktale” – as the subtitle calls it – of these people’s Puritanical existence making them perfect prey for the darkness hidden within the so-far unsettled expanse. A slow burn, once this wick catches fire the flames grow big enough to burn everything down. – James Scott
