Movie Review: The Witch

I went to see The Witch.

I'm trying not to give specific spoilers, but it's hard to talk about a movie without telling some of what happened.

I guess I knew that it would be a horror movie, but the poster showed a beautiful naked woman walking into a beautiful forest, so I hoped it might have some sweeter aspects.  I mostly chose it because it was starting right at the time I walked into the multiplex and I needed to kill some time.

There were no sweet aspects of this.  There was only one attractive character and nothing good happened to anyone.  Everything was blood and gore — very intense blood and gore —naked children murdered and sexually abused, cannibalism.  I’m a bit surprised it wasn’t NC-17.  It seemed like the worst sort of child porn.  They blanked out or implied the worst scenes, but still I’m surprised that it got an R.

There was something else that bothered me, though — the depiction of the witch.  Now this was characterized as a folk tale, so obviously it plays on stereotypes and prejudices.  I shouldn’t be surprised about that.

Still, the witch — she was old, bent over, and clearly suffering from some sort of mental illness.  She looked a lot like a homeless person, tho she had a hut that she lived in.  Her unattractiveness was a big part of her fear appeal — but it wasn’t an abnormal unattractiveness — other than her gory obsessions.  She was just an old, bent woman with withered muscles — bony arms and legs.  Her hair was messy.  She lived alone.

This is bothering me — the depiction of: homelessness, mental illness, old age, especially older women.  

I’m wondering why there isn’t more outcry against this thing.

This is just personal preference, but it also bothered me that dancing naked in the woods was considered evil.  Of course, it was a period piece, at a time when modesty was prized — but I think dancing naked in the woods shouldn’t necessarily be considered evil.

The depiction of Christianity wasn’t any too friendly either — brutal, cruel, abusive of children.

All in all, just unsettling in many respects.

******

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I should say the costumes were excellent and the soundtrack was intriguing.  Also the camera work was excellent.