The first trailer for acclaimed indie horror film The Witch was released last Wednesday, and, after careful consideration, we at TMS HQ have deemed it “extremely spoopy.” It also validates my deep-seated belief that nature is NOT TO BE TRUSTED, which is always good for my inner indoor gal’s ego. Here’s the official description:
Set in New England circa 1630, The Witch follows a farmer who get cast out of his colonial plantation and is forced to move his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of an ominous forest rumored to be controlled by witches. Almost immediately, strange and unsettling things begin to happen—the animals turn violent, the crops fail, and one of the children disappears, only to return seemingly possessed by an evil spirit. As suspicion and paranoia mount, everyone begins to point the finger at teenage daughter Thomasin. They accuse her of witchcraft, which she adamantly denies… but as circumstances become more and more treacherous, each family member’s faith, loyalty, and love will be tested in shocking and unforgettable ways.
Writer/director Robert Eggers’ debut feature, which premiered to great acclaim at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival (and won the Best Director Prize in the U.S. Narrative Competition), painstakingly recreates a God-fearing New England decades before the 1692 Salem witch trials, in which religious convictions and pagan folklore famously clashed. Told through the eyes of the adolescent Thomasin – in a star-making turn by newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy – and supported by mesmerizing camera work and a powerful musical score, THE WITCH is a chilling and groundbreaking new take on the genre.
Personally, I always feel a little conflicted about movies that explore witchcraft. Some, like this year’s Seventh Son or Nic Cage’s infamous Season of the Witch, buy into sexist stereotypes to an absurdly unselfconscious degree; I’m particularly wary of historical horror films with a witch focus.
That being said, when I brought up my concerns to the rest of TMS team we were able to think of countless movies that subvert misogynistic expectations in order to represent witches through a feminist lens.
What do you think of how witches are represented in most media, friends? Are there any witchy films that you think do a particularly good job of representing women?
(via Blastr)
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