Some devils do not come from the forest, but from within the soul.
Robert Eggers’ The Witch (2015) is not a conventional horror film — it is a chilling parable of isolation, faith, and the suffocating terror of the unknown. Set in 1630s New England, the film strips away the comforts of civilization and drops its characters into a barren wilderness where God feels distant, the Devil feels near, and silence itself becomes unbearable.
At the center of the story is Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy, in her breakout role), a young girl whose family is exiled from their Puritan settlement and forced to live on the edge of a dark, foreboding forest. Their new life is harsh, their crops wither, and their faith begins to crack. When the youngest child mysteriously vanishes, suspicion seeps into the family like poison. Whispers of a witch in the woods grow louder, and soon, trust within the family turns to paranoia and betrayal.
What makes The Witch devastatingly effective is not just its supernatural dread, but its exploration of religious hysteria. Eggers grounds the story in historical authenticity, using archaic language from actual 17th-century texts and crafting a world where the Bible dictates every action, every fear. In this rigid environment, even a daughter’s innocence becomes questionable, and sin is seen lurking in every corner of the woods — or perhaps, within the family itself.
Visually, the film is austere yet terrifying. The muted color palette reflects a life drained of warmth, while Jarin Blaschke’s cinematography captures nature not as beautiful, but as hostile and indifferent. The woods are shot like a living entity — endless, watchful, and hungry. Mark Korven’s score pierces with shrill dissonance and unsettling silence, amplifying a sense of unease that never lets the audience breathe freely.
By its haunting climax, when Thomasin faces her destiny with chilling clarity, The Witch transcends horror and becomes myth. It is a story about repression, temptation, and liberation — a tale where fear becomes freedom, and damnation might feel like salvation. Eggers delivers not just a scary movie, but a bleak and mesmerizing portrait of how faith and fear can devour a family from within.
