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The Witch

The Witch

Horror · Drama · Mystery · 2016

In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways.

Movie details

The Witch

“Evil takes many forms.”

2016 Horror · Drama · Mystery 1h 32m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

In 1630, a farmer relocates his family to a remote plot of land on the edge of a forest where strange, unsettling things happen. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, each family member's faith, loyalty and love are tested in shocking ways.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Witch?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

In the Mouth of Madness

In the Mouth of Madness

Horror · 1995

An insurance investigator visits a small town while looking into the strange disappearance of a popular horror novelist. He soon finds that the impact of the author’s books is far more than inspirational.

Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow

Fantasy · 1999

Skeptical young detective Ichabod Crane gets transferred to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, where he is tasked with investigating the decapitations of three people – murders the townsfolk attribute to a legendary specter, The Headless Horseman.

Fear Street: 1994

Fear Street: 1994

Horror · 2021

After a series of brutal slayings, a teen and her friends take on an evil force that's plagued their notorious town for centuries.

The Ritual

The Ritual

Horror · 2025

Two priests, one in crisis with his faith and the other confronting a turbulent past, must overcome their differences to perform a risky exorcism.

Weapons

Weapons

Horror · 2025

When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

The Craft

The Craft

Horror · 1996

A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them -- be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.

The Village

The Village

Drama · 2004

When a willful young man tries to venture beyond his sequestered Pennsylvania hamlet, his actions set off a chain of chilling incidents that will alter the community forever.

The Reckoning

The Reckoning

Horror · 2021

In the aftermath of the Great Plague and amidst the subsequent witch-hunts against women, a young widow grapples with the tragic death of her husband in a society completely consumed by fear and death. Because she rejects the advances of her landlord, she is falsely accused of being a witch and thrown in jail for a crime she didn’t commit. She must endure physical persecution at the hands of England’s most ruthless witch-hunter and face her own inner demons as the devil himself starts to work his way into her mind.

Needful Things

Needful Things

Drama · 1993

A mysterious new shop opens in a small town which always seems to stock the deepest desires of each shopper, with a price far heavier than expected.

The Unholy

The Unholy

Horror · 2021

Alice is a young hearing-impaired girl who, after a supposed visitation from the Virgin Mary, is inexplicably able to hear, speak and heal the sick. As word spreads and people from near and far flock to witness her miracles, a disgraced journalist hoping to revive his career visits the small New England town to investigate. When terrifying events begin to happen all around, he starts to question if these phenomena are the works of the Virgin Mary or something much more sinister.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Robert Eggers

Written by

Robert Eggers

Anya Taylor-Joy

Anya Taylor-Joy

Thomasin

Ralph Ineson

Ralph Ineson

William

Kate Dickie

Kate Dickie

Katherine

Harvey Scrimshaw

Harvey Scrimshaw

Caleb

Ellie Grainger

Ellie Grainger

Mercy

Lucas Dawson

Lucas Dawson

Jonas

Julian Richings

Julian Richings

Governor

Court is in session

Put The Witch on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.