The Witch is maybe this year’s most talked-about horror film, and it might not even be a “horror” film. Directed in the Canadian wilderness, the Robert Eggers-directed film follows a 17th century Puritan family in the New England wilderness as they confront an unknown, unseen evil that has taken their infant son. Of course, their daughter is soon suspected of witchcraft.
At first read the film sounds like a run-of-the-mill witch tale, but, given that it won the Directing Award at last year’s Sundance, there’s a bit more happening there. This newest trailer, titled “Paranoia,” hints at that, and gives credence to the theory that everything that’s happening is in the heads of our characters, rather than the hands of some meddling teenage witch.
Could this film be 2016’s It Follows or, even better, The Babadook? We’ll see soon. It’s set for a February 19 release.