Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Quick Reviews: The VVitch (Witch) {2015}

After all of the hype online, I finally saw this one.  Will it bewitch me or leave me dry?
Back in the 17th Century, a Family is kicked out of their Settlement and starts a new life in the Forest.

Those are always safe, so no threat there.
Their life is disrupted greatly when a nearby Witch does something unspeakable!
With the already-rough Family torn apart by these events, what more could happen?!?
Does it have something to do with the strange beasts of the Forest, the mysterious noises at night or the fact that their 2 youngest kids seem to talk to this Goat?
As the Nights pass, things get worse and worse.  The Family continues to drift apart...
With one last morning, how can things get even worse?  To find out, watch the Film.
Freaky good- surprising even me.  I continue to be a pessimistic optimist.  In other words, I assume that the Films that everyone tells me I must see will be disappointing, but secretly hope that I'm wrong.  I've been wrong a surprisingly-high amount lately- yea!  Stuff like Ex Machina, Predestination, The Babadook and now this are proving that Films that most people say are good may actually be good.  Of course, Primer still sucked.  The only Time Travel here involves the use of the Setting, which really helps the Film.  How many Period Piece Horror Films do we get these days?  I hesitate to call stuff like The Conjuring or Insidious: Chapter 3 such Films, since the Setting has practically no impact on anything.  In this case, it both helps the Plot (making the people all alone), helps immersion (by establishing the environment so well) and our level of discomfort (being in such a different place).  The Film really feels different, which is something I don't say nearly enough.  Is the pace slow?  Yes.  Does that bother me?  No, not really.  You get some stuff very early on to tell you that everything is not alright.  As the Film builds and builds, you realize just how screwed these people are.  This is the only Film where I'll probably say this- I actually wish they'd show us less.  In the End, I would have actually liked some more mystery and vagueness.  Yes, I do feel weird writing that.  Aside from that minor critique, I really liked this one- Internet build-up and all.  On the plus side, if they had gone much further, they might have wandered into a much sillier Witch Film...
Honestly, it was better than I expected.  A solid Story done in a very naturalistic way AND actually kind of freaky- great.

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