The Witch Blu-ray Review

Unsettled Settling

by Casimir Harlow
Movies & TV Shows Review

8

The Witch Blu-ray Review
MSRP: £14.99

Film Review

The unnerving slow-burning new folk tale, The Witch, remains a prime example of strong, effective horror storytelling without the need for gory shock tactics or overt jump scares.

Exiled from their Puritan community, a pilgrim couple settle in a distant field by the woods, and expand their young family. When the eldest girl is babysitting the latest addition near the woods, however, tragedy befalls, and the family start to question whether or not dark, supernatural and satanic forces are at work close by. The Witch benefits greatly from mood and atmosphere and slow-burning tension, delivering more impact by what goes on implied, off-screen, rather than anything you do see. Indeed some of the horror is truly horrific if you actually stop to think about it; it just doesn’t rely on cheap gory visuals to deliver the scares.
It’s a small scale affair, undeniably, but it’s a thoroughly impressive debut offering from first time writer/director Robert Eggers who deserves much attention off the back of this piece, which exudes hints of everything from The Wicker Man to The Village, but manages to nevertheless remain original and fresh in its own right. Similarly breakthrough star Anya Taylor-Joy is one to watch, captivating as a defiant, strong-willed child in a very proper household, torn apart by the strange and almost otherworldly things going on all around her. The Witch is well worth checking out, a truly different old-school horror which gets under your skin without you even realising.

Picture Quality

The Witch
The bleak, often near-monochromatic, presentation only further enhances the mood of this piece.

Promoted by Universal on a Region Free UK Blu-ray complete with a 1080p/AVC-encoded High Definition video presentation, The Witch is already unconventional in its very aspect ratio, the rather squat 1.66:1, which was used both theatrically and here to add to the period feel and flavour. It helps further engulf you in this unusual environment, almost robbed of all primaries as the stylised colour scheme (colour being something of an exaggeration in this place) makes simply everything look pale and bleak. Detail remains strong throughout, however, with a firm precision that brings creepy woods and caves to life, as well as facial textures, flowing hair and tatty clothing. Black levels are strong and rich and allow for deep shadows, rounding out a suprisingly powerful and stylish affair.

Sound Quality

The Witch
A powerfully understated audio track adds to the disquiet.

With a strong but suitably understated DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offering welcome support, The Witch knows just how to get under your skin on the aural front too, delivering dialogue - albeit in a period language that, in and of itself, can be quite hard to understand - clearly and coherently from across the front and centre channels. The score is minimalist, merely highlighting the haunting tone of key sequences, rather than pervading the piece. Effects are impressive too, picking up on the tiniest creepiest wilderness noises, from animal sounds to the crack of undergrowth underfoot, with a couple of more jolty moments sparking on the soundstage, but little exploding to life - this is a track about presence and atmosphere rather than blustering bombast. It's a great, engulfing little aural accompaniment.

Extras

Perhaps most disappointingly, The Witch comes with no extra features. Which would be fine but for the fact that Lionsgate's US release, from a couple of months back, sported a whole slew of extras including an Audio Commentary. The lack of these features leaves Universal's UK disc almost not a keeper, at least for fans who want the best release.
The Witch
The Witch is an excellent piece of underplayed, understated and unnerving horror.

Unfortunately Universal's UK Blu-ray release, whilst maintaining excellent video and audio, drops ALL of the extras already available on the US release. Fans should check this out but may want to consider sourcing their purchase copy from an alternative territory, where they can get the full wealth of supplemental features.

Scores

Movie

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8

Picture Quality

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9

Sound Quality

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8

Extras

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.
.
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.
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1

Overall

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7

This review is sponsored by

7
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