The Witch

[IrishJedi]

Were the rabbit and raven familiar companions to the witches or the witches themselves in animal form? I assumed it was the latter, at least with regard to the rabbit. That thing oozed evil and seemed to have a real intelligence about it. If the raven was an actual transformed witch then that breast feeding scene just got even more stomach churning...

Yeah, in New England folklore the animal familiars and the witches were often one-and-the-same.

Spoiler

This also makes the Black Phillip reveal (as Satan) at the end even better. Because some viewers may see him as yet another familiar or totem up to that point.

 

[rushmore223]

I swear this movie gets creepier and creepier by the day.

 

[Khev]

For whatever reason when I watched the film I took the raven as being a nasty critter companion and not an actual witch. But of course it makes sense that it was given how the rabbit was presented. I'm gonna go throw up now.

I swear this movie gets creepier and creepier by the day.

 

[IrishJedi]

Yeah, like I said earlier... there is a LOT of subtext throughout and the more you uncover it the more unsettling it is (and the more it becomes apparent that the film is a legit masterwork).

 

[IrishJedi]

BTW, have some Desktop wallpapers

 

[IrishJedi]

Very interesting note: The production had some JAWS-like happy accidents with the goat who was Black Phillip in the film. Basically, he was a PIA to work with and almost never did what they needed him to do. Most of the time, he either wanted to just lay down stubbornly... or attack actor Ralph Ineson (William), who he literally sent to the ER 3 different times from gashes!

Most notably, however, is the scene

Spoiler

in which he's closed into the stable with Thomasin and the twins. What they wanted him to do was pace around in there. But he absolutely refused to get up, and just wanted to lay there and pant and stare at everyone. Which worked so much better! Again, a JAWS-like happy accident.

Also, he was really a white and brown billygoat that they had to dye black.

 

[rushmore223]

This movie is a throwback to the Horror of the 60's and 70's, of which I m thankful, because there are so few decent Horror films made nowadays (not to sound like an old man) while it is totally original in my eyes, I feel like it shares some relation to films like Rosemary's Baby.

What a breath of fresh air next to trash like Saw and Hostel and other empty minded jump fests.

 

[JAWS]

For whatever reason when I watched the film I took the raven as being a nasty critter companion and not an actual witch. But of course it makes sense that it was given how the rabbit was presented. I'm gonna go throw up now.

Spoiler

I think the Crow may have been Satan also. Just in another form.. It was the dead children asking the mother to "read from the book" The same book that Satan had the daughter put her name in... The Children then became the Crow. Thus Satan appeared to the mther as the children and then became the crow. The Rabbit may have been Satan also... Keeping an eye on those who entered the woods.. Of course That is all just guess work .. It works just as well being a witch.. Especially when they seem to like blood from the breast anyways.. Whether it be from the mom with the crow or the Witch suckling on the goat in the shed that same night... Great stuff

 

[rushmore223]

Now that I think of it, this movie, which has become an instant favorite shares a common thread with 2 other favorite Horror films of mine. The Shining and Rosemarys Baby, both deal with external (supernatural) forces causing families to implode and betray eachother violently (Rosemary's rape was definitely violent), though in comparison, The Shining had a downright happy ending compared to the Witch.

 

[Khev]

Spoiler

I think the Crow may have been Satan also. Just in another form.. It was the dead children asking the mother to "read from the book" The same book that Satan had the daughter put her name in... The Children then became the Crow. Thus Satan appeared to the mther as the children and then became the crow. The Rabbit may have been Satan also... Keeping an eye on those who entered the woods.. Of course That is all just guess work .. It works just as well being a witch.. Especially when they seem to like blood from the breast anyways.. Whether it be from the mom with the crow or the Witch suckling on the goat in the shed that same night... Great stuff

Spoiler

I don't think that the rabbit could have been Satan because don't you see it sitting next to Black Phillip in the manger at one point? Unless you want to assume that Satan isn't actually changing forms but is instead "possessing" the different animals and he bounces from the goat to the rabbit to the crow. I suppose a third option would be that just as we were surprised by the film having multiple witches, perhaps it contained multiple demons as well? Maybe Black Phillip was the demon prince and the rabbit and raven were his lieutenants. I loved that there appeared to be a genuine method to all the madness but that said method simply wasn't spelled out. The only real definitives seemed to be that Black Phillip was indeed "in charge" and that regardless of whatever benefit the witches derived from murdered children the primary focus of the film was always Phillip's acquisition of Thomasin's soul.

One thing I can't help but be curious over is how do you guys think the baby was taken? It's silly to me to imagine that an old lady sprinted 20 yards out of the forest, grabbed it, and then sprinted BACK to the forest in an almost literal blink of an eye. I'm guessing that she somehow used magic to make the child disappear and then reappear in her hiding arms. Or is THAT too "out there" based on the "rules" of the film?

 

[IrishJedi]

I think she was invisible at first. If you look closely you can actually see the tall grass and bushes move slightly as if something is passing through.

 

[Khev]

I did not notice the grass moving. Interesting. Did the grass move before the child was taken or after? Maybe the witch was inside the treeline and used telekinesis to whisk the baby through the grass to her open arms?

 

[IrishJedi]

I did not notice the grass moving. Interesting. Did the grass move before the child was taken or after? Maybe the witch was inside the treeline and used telekinesis to whisk the baby through the grass to her open arms?

Yeah, hard to say. One of the ambiguously creepy things about the movie that also makes it awesome.

 

[Khev]

Indeed. I really felt like I was watching the "monomyth" of witch tales that painstakingly incorporated as many signature elements (Hansel and Gretel, poisoned apples, familiars, etc.) as possible. The baby snatching was a bit of a "huh?" moment when taken at face value but not so much if you imagine it as the beginning of a ghost story told at a campfire. "This one girl was playing peekaboo by the forest and when she opened her eyes the baby was GONE." "Whoa." You know? People don't really ask "how?" because it's such an early stage of the building mystery and ultimately inconsequential to the moral lessons to be learned.

 

[JAWS]

Spoiler

I don't think that the rabbit could have been Satan because don't you see it sitting next to Black Phillip in the manger at one point? Unless you want to assume that Satan isn't actually changing forms but is instead "possessing" the different animals and he bounces from the goat to the rabbit to the crow. I suppose a third option would be that just as we were surprised by the film having multiple witches, perhaps it contained multiple demons as well? Maybe Black Phillip was the demon prince and the rabbit and raven were his lieutenants. I loved that there appeared to be a genuine method to all the madness but that said method simply wasn't spelled out. The only real definitives seemed to be that Black Phillip was indeed "in charge" and that regardless of whatever benefit the witches derived from murdered children the primary focus of the film was always Phillip's acquisition of Thomasin's soul.

One thing I can't help but be curious over is how do you guys think the baby was taken? It's silly to me to imagine that an old lady sprinted 20 yards out of the forest, grabbed it, and then sprinted BACK to the forest in an almost literal blink of an eye. I'm guessing that she somehow used magic to make the child disappear and then reappear in her hiding arms. Or is THAT too "out there" based on the "rules" of the film?

It;s Witchcraft


Good point about the Rabbit and Black Phillip... I think my theory about the Crow could still be right though.

 

[YoNoSe]

The Shining had a downright happy ending compared to the Witch.

 

[Khev]

It;s Witchcraft

Touché.

 

[jye4ever]

Man, can't wait to get home to jump into this thread!

This movie so deserves it.

Be back in 2 hours, I want to engage in this bad mofo.

 

[rushmore223]

I'll never look at Olaf the same again, evil bastard!

 

[IrishJedi]

Man, can't wait to get home to jump into this thread!

This movie so deserves it.

Be back in 2 hours, I want to engage in this bad mofo.

Hurry back.