Something Wicked

It’s 1630 and a father (Ralph Ineson), displeased with the slack religious principles of the nearest settlement, moves his family to the edge of a gray New England forest. There he, his wife (Kate Dickie), and their five children (a teenage daughter played by Anya Taylor-Joy; a preteen son; bratty twins; and an infant son) set up camp. The isolation is suffocating. Strange things start to happen, and although the catalyst is supernatural (the sudden disappearance of the infant at the hands of a witch), the resulting fears that then break the family apart are entirely human: fear of God and fear of a girl transitioning into womanhood and the Eve-like temptations that brings. The Witch, the debut feature film from writer, director, and New England native Robert Eggers, won the Dramatic Directing award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and opens this week via A24.