Few horror films can be included in a serious evaluation system, especially in recent years. More people think that horror movies are at the bottom end of the movie contempt chain, and that they are more like a sensory stimulation medium that is thrown away after use and does not need to be discussed in depth. It is cheap, inferior, and full of flaws. In many cases, people are supposed to fear the scenes. In this knowledgeable era of deconstruction, people are willing to interpret them with laughter. The embarrassing thing is that few serious filmmakers are willing to spend time and mind on this type of film. From the producer to the audience, horror films become less dignified. But this "Witch" exudes a determined and even solemn temperament from the beginning. When the slow-moving camera sweeps horizontally across the bleak woods time and time again, when the depths of the scenery are enveloped in mist, true horror film fans will know that they are witnessing a rare masterpiece. It is calm and self-confident not like the lens language that a horror film would have.
Just as those impossibly criminal bridges in the case of reasoning have been exhausted, the prototypes of terror in human hearts have basically been explored. Now, the higher requirement for a horror film is to go deep into the spiritual dilemma beyond a series of horror images. Critics generally believe that the appeal of horror films is the projection of human reality anxiety. To some extent, what is revealed in horror movies reflects the content of repression in our subconscious. Whether these can be reflected is the threshold that determines whether a film is purely sensory or becomes a "work".
The story told in "Witch" is a part of the most classic Western horror film. Witches appear and all incidents are caused by the possession of demons. But the director did not deliberately create any shocking atmosphere, but eventually led all panic to the wasteland in the depths of people's spirits.
The background of this story is New England in the 16th century. The family was expelled by the church because the Puritan male host had a disagreement with the local church. They went to a wilderness to clear up wasteland and settle down. They are very religious and use classics to explain everything in life. The originally depressive atmosphere, coupled with the increasingly embarrassing life now, everything began to collapse. At this time, the baby who had just been born in the family suddenly disappeared. Fear, doubt, and anxiety congealed, but they felt that all this was a witch's haunt, and the eldest daughter in the family was treated as a demon.
The beauty of "The Witch" is that everything makes sense from a practical perspective: severe hunger, isolated environment, deep forest atmosphere, religious fanaticism, and the grief of losing children. The root cause of the loss of control, but this clue can also be explained from the perspective of their faith in religion, and the family finally chose to believe in the latter. In this sense, it is not a movie that makes people believe in gods and monsters at all, but it exposes people to the terrible mind control. When people give up independent thinking, lose their rationality, and no longer have free will, everything is doomed to destruction.
This isolated environment has become a container for a human experiment. The gloomy silhouette of a demon in the picture can be understood as a real existence, or as a symbolic image-in fact, it is just a demons. The personalities of several members of this family are particularly worthy of intrigue: the dominant father is arrogant, stubborn and hypocritical, the mother is weak and dependent, and a pair of twin daughters, who are eloquent and spread rumors. In fact, only the eldest daughter bears all the burdens of the family. , Seeing the absurdity in this family, but still trying to maintain everything. But such a real and kind person was treated as a demon. A group of false people, trying to kill a real person. This is the core described repeatedly in the first half of the film.
In addition to each character’s mapping of good and evil, "The Witch" has always had a variety of bright or dark symbols. The captive black sheep, and even the desire to eat an apple, are all typical religious images. The devil that the black sheep copes with, and the temptation that Apple copes with, are all in a wonderful connection with the story itself. In the end, everyone died, only the eldest daughter survived. Don't think that this is a dark ending. In fact, what is revealed here is the best hope. The only normal, real person survived, and those hypocrites were put to death.
The last scene of the film is very charming. The girl walks into the distance and sees a group of figures dancing around the bonfire in the dark. Their movements are stretched, presumptuous, and enchanted. In the end, she herself floats into the air with her, that euphoric The expression and the movements of ascending, as if the climax came, she was liberated from abstinence-both physically and mentally. You can think of those dancing people as real witches, or you can think of them as fantasies in the girl's mind. The great thing about this film lies in the openness of interpretation. From this perspective, it has approached an art film.
It's no exaggeration to say that I haven't seen such a stunning horror movie for at least ten years. Most horror movies are all over the place, or they are shocked, even one or two of the popular horror movies only spin on the senses. But this movie is enough to win people's respect. Some of its shots will remind you of "The Shining." "Witch" has actually surpassed the narrow definition of a horror film and has become a movie with plenty of meaning.
View more about The Witch reviews
