History Film / TheWitch

* SoldHisSoulForADonut: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:When Thomasin asks Black Philip what he can give her, he offers "the taste of butter" and "a pretty dress". Between her repressed, puritan upbringing and the desperate situation she's in, its enough to get her to to sign his book.]]

* SoldHisSoulForADonut: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:When Thomasin asks Black Philip what he can give her, he offers "the taste of butter" and "a pretty dress". Between her repressed, puritan upbringing and her family's poverty, its enough to get her to to sign his book.]]

* JumpScare: When Black Phillip attacks William.
* LadyInRed: It's no coincidence that [[spoiler: the witch who seduces Caleb and is implied to have raped him]] appears wearing a red cloak. It's the only time in the film we see someone wearing red (as bright colours and finery were forbidden in Puritan society).

* OopNorth: Although set in New England, the family are from here originally and speak with Northern English accents.

* PrideBeforeAFall: William and his family are banished from the commonwealth for his pride. Not very long after, [[spoiler: baby Samuel is abducted and killed by a witch and things ''only get worse from there.'']]
* ProperlyParanoid: The story starts out as depiction of a fundamentalist family living in some schizophrenic fantasy world entirely of their father's invention. But then, as the plot progresses, it becomes clear that witches and curses are indeed real [[spoiler: and the devil ''does'' exist.]] [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane May]][[MindScrew be.]]

* RichesToRags: The family have gone from having glass windows back in England, which would have marked them out as quite wealthy for the time, to living in an earth floored hut outside of the plantation, out of William's prideful wish to worship his way.

* SexIsEvil: Par for the course for a 17th century Puritan family. Caleb clearly has a lot of angst about hitting puberty, and he frequently finds himself [[MaleGaze sneaking peaks at his sister's cleavage]]. Appropriately, [[spoiler: the witch appears to him as an alluring woman who seduces him]]. Likewise, Thomasin [[spoiler: sees the devil as a handsome dark-haired man who invites her to "live deliciously"]], and the last scene of the movie shows her [[spoiler: stripping off her clothes and going to join a nude witches' dance in the forest]], which can be seen as a dark portrait of female sexual awakening.

* SituationalSexuality: Because the family are away from civilization and there's nobody else around close in age, [[spoiler: Caleb seems to develop incestuous sexual lust towards his own sister Thomasin which he struggles with.]]
* SlutShaming: [[spoiler:Katherine to Thomasin in their final confrontation. While she does scream about Thomasin being responsible for the deaths, most of her tirade is accusing Thomasin of being a "proud slut" and implies she was trying to seduce her own brother and father. Note that Thomasin never showed the slightest inclination towards this and if anything Caleb seemed to lust for Thomasin, which Katherine might be blaming Thomasin for. Considering how witches were believed to have sex with Satan, Katherine might be misattributing false memories of sexual deviant behavior onto her daughter.]]

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Right after the ending and before the credits, a [[https://67.media.tumblr.com/7291d4761ecf61a5e09f1db5a4939f1b/tumblr_o7pgh44VNt1v0pyxmo1_1280.jpg piece of text]] comes up saying that the film was not only inspired by fairytales and folklore on that period, but also eyewitness accounts and journal entries written on witchcraft.

* JumpScare: When Black Phillip attacks the father.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: The witches are the villains of the story but the rest of her family treats Thomasin [[spoiler:so badly she eventually becomes a witch, if only just to survive]].

-->-- '''[[spoiler:Black Phillip]]'''

** Thomasin is named after a Biblical character, it’s the female version of Thomas.

* BadassBoast: Thomasin boasts that she is a witch mockingly at her siblings Jonas and Mercy.
-->''I am that very witch. When I sleep my spirit slips away from my body and dances naked with The Devil. That's how I signed his book.''

** At one point in the film, there is a a close-up of Black Philip's face, including one eye. [[spoiler:Goat pupils are typically [[http://hencam.com/static/uploads/2013/01/rectangular-eye.jpg rectangular]]; Black Philip's are round, indicating that he is not really a goat.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Katherine is killed by Thomasin after she tries to choke her to death after she blames her for the misfortunes happening. Given her treatment of Thomasin throughout the film, it's hard to feel bad for her.]]
* BadassBoast: Thomasin boasts that she is a witch mockingly at her sibling Jonas and Mercy.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Everyone dies except Thomasin, who joins the witches' coven. [[UncertainDoom We never find out]] what happened to the twins, but the worst can be assumed. It goes even further as Katherine and Thomasin definitely signed their souls to the Devil, the twins are implied to have done so as well, and Katherine openly feared that Caleb and baby Samuel were damned. If Heaven exists, William is probably the only one who made it... and considering he was willing to die to redeem his children's souls when he believed them witches, odds are he won't find much peace even in Heaven, knowing his entire family is in Hell. The only upside is Thomasin is happy in her new coven.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: The family literally settles at the fringes of the territory protected by God, tempting the clear limit of the God-forsaken wilderness of the woods. Settling there is bad enough, but venturing into said woods is precisely what starts breaking everything apart for them.

-->-- '''[[spoiler:Black Phillip]]'''

-->-- '''spoiler:Black Phillip'''

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: [[spoiler:Thomasin becomes a Witch at the end]].

''The Witch: A New-England Folktale'' (stylized as ''The [=VVitch=]'') is a ReligiousHorror historical drama film directed by Robert Eggers and starring Creator/AnyaTaylorJoy. The movie originally debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival (where it won the Best Director award in the Drama category), and was released to wide audiences on February 19, 2016 by Creator/{{A24}}.

* AdultFear:
** Losing your children? Yep.
** From William's perspective, it is clearly grueling to have your family on the cusp of starving [[spoiler:and dying]] thanks to your pride.

-->''I am that very witch. When I sleep my spirit slips away from my body and dances naked with The Devil. That’s how I signed his book.''

** At one point in the film, there is a a close-up of Black Philip's face, including one eye. [[spoiler:Goat pupils are typically rectangular; Black Philip's are round, indicating that he is not really a goat.]]

* GruesomeGoat: The Puritan family owns a goat, Black Phillip, that becomes increasingly ominous as the CreepyTwins play with him and claim that he speaks to them. At the end, [[spoiler:he fatally gores William and is revealed to be {{Satan}} in disguise.]]

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: The Witch kills everyone except Thomasin, who then becomes a witch herself at Black Phillip's behest.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: Played with. In hindsight, [[spoiler:the family doesn't do anything warranting their horrible fate (even the twins' covenant with Black Phillip, as it was implied to have been made in childish ignorance rather than willful malice). However, by Puritan standards, they're sinners to the bone marrow.]]

** In the film's penultimate scene, [[spoiler:Black Phillip's human form is barely visible in the shadows behind Thomasin]].

* EvilSoundsRaspy: In the penultimate scene, [[spoiler:Black Phillip]] speaks in a high-pitched whisper.
* EvilTastesGood: [[spoiler:Black Phillip's offering to Thomasin is to try the taste of butter and live "deliciously".]]

* GruesomeGoat: The Puritan family owns a goat, Black Phillip, that becomes increasingly ominous as the CreepyTwins play with him and claim that he speaks to them. At the end, he fatally gores [[spoiler:William]] and is strongly implied to be {{Satan}} in disguise.

* MeaningfulName: Thomasin. [[spoiler:Combining "Thomas" the doubting apostle, with "sin"]]. Also: Black Phillip - Baphomet.

* MinimalistCast: The six core members of the family (William, Katherine, Thomasin, Caleb, Jonas, Mercy) are the only characters with any significant amount of dialogue or screentime. Other than them, there's just the town council in the opening scene, the titular witch herself, [[spoiler:Black Phillip's human form]], and [[spoiler: the witches' coven at the end]], all of whom appear only fleetingly.

** At the very end of the film, [[spoiler: Thomasin plunges over the DespairEventHorizon after the rest of her family is killed, leaving her stranded alone at the farm with no means of providing for herself and no help for miles. Calling out to Black Phillip, she accepts a literal Deal with the Devil and - at his prompting - strips nude and wanders out into the forest to join the other Witches. As she rises naked into the night with the rest of the coven, the look on her face indicates that she's finally crossed the line into madness.]]

** We see very little of [[spoiler:Black Philip's human form]] - a single boot and the lower half of a face obscured in shadows, but that's all that's needed to get the point across to the audience ''very'' effectively.

** Samuel is too young to display '''Gluttony''', but that one is filled by [[spoiler: Black Philip himself - as he goes to extreme lengths to get Thomasin to join him. Murdering six other people to gain the services of one is extremely wasteful]].

* UncertainDoom: The twins. We never actually see [[spoiler: them die]], and Thomasin was right about [[spoiler: Black Phillip being an avatar of Satan]]; it's not hard to imagine that Thomasin was right about them as well. On the other hand, they're not seen with the other witches at the end. Furthermore when the witch is in the stable, a disgusting "choking noise" stifles their screams. What exactly she did is unknown, but [[spoiler:the twins' survival is unlikely.]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:Black Phillip saying]]: "What dost thou want?"

* AerithAndBob: The parents have rather mundane English names (William and Kate) compared to their children (Thomasin, Caleb, Jonas, Mercy and Samuel).

* AnimalisticAbomination: [[spoiler:Black Phillip, the mortal form of Satan]].

* TheFundamentalist: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with William and Katherine. They're as religious as you'd expect of a Puritan couple in the 17th century, and their strong religious beliefs apparently got them banished from the Commonwealth. However, for most of the film, their chief concern is keeping their children fed and clothed. [[spoiler: After Caleb's death, however...]]