THE WITCH
Dir - Robert Eggers
Overall: GREAT
Despite many critics going ga-ga for any new horror outing that does not pummel you with boo scares or is simply not depressing torture porn, rarely do they accomplish that with The Witch does. The debut from writer/director Robert Eggers is a wonderful departure from both tired and lazy horror tropes yes, but it is also a considerable achievement over virtually anything else being done within the genre. There are many moments in this film that could have been easily ruined by generic, pandering stylistic choices. Instead, the atonal soundtrack was done with era-appropriate instruments, the dialog is archaic and challenging, the lone jump scare comes with no predictable warning and ergo actually works, and the atmosphere is relentlessly ominous. These elements only scratch the surface though. As an exploration of Puritanical Christian paranoia and ignorance fueled by desperation which in turn takes over a family and essentially shows how an actual witch can be made, there are layers to the narrative that can be debated intellectually for decades to come. Thoroughly researched and loaded with details, it all benefits the film not only as a compelling, psychological essay, but as a deeply eerie example of what the horror genre can truly pull-off.
Dir - Corin Hardy
Overall: MEH
The "bad guys" in English filmmaker Corin Hardy's debut The Hallow are a nice departure, skewing would-be whimsical fairytale concepts into a more gritty, contemporary setting. It is in the execution where Hardy takes the very easy route of piling on the cliches with a "here's a creepy book that explains everything that's going on" and some cold, cryptically warning neighbors both providing some much worn-out tropes, per example. The CGI is used somewhat sparringly though due to the indie budget, it also comes off pretty cartoony. Based on Irish folklore with a dash of some heavy-handed environmentalism thrown in, there is a family in peril, but the script does not do that well of a job helping the viewer either learn or care much for them. It is nice that the film gets to the "good stuff" quicker than most and forgoes a slowboil approach that leads nowhere interesting, yet at the same time, it is all ultimately bogged down by so many horror things that have been seen before. This makes the relatively action packed second half so much more dull than it otherwise would be. Sometimes a different movie monster than we are used to is simply not enough. Lesson learned here.
Dir - Rodney Ascher
Overall: MEH
Rodney Ascher's Room 237 follow-up is a comparatively superior documentary, this is true. It is also not without its flaws, be they very different ones than the "let's listen to one-hundred plus minutes of nutbars with the most ever time on their hands rattle on about what The Shining absolutely isn't about". For The Nightmare, we are presented with eight cases of real people who suffer extreme cases of sleep paralysis, a terrifying sleeping disorder made all the more so by the fact that most of them seem to have it on a nightly basis. The good part is that Ascher is equipped with a hefty enough budget to stage re-enactments that for the most part are effectively unnerving. They are certainly several cuts above what one would see on A&E or the History Channel in other words. The bad part is that that is all the movie is; interviews with the afflicted people and then a visual aid to basically make the whole thing more horror movie than straight documentary. This intentional approach ultimately ends up a frustrating experience as we are given no other points of view let alone any scientific explanations for the phenomena. There are no interviews with doctors or anything to help us learn much, making it all feel like rather a half complete work. Instead, all that the film can really offer us is "well damn that's pretty fucked up" and "sucks to be them" reactions.
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