Bone-Chilling Colonial American Horror in 'The Witch' Trailer
The Sundance Film Festival has been the launching pad for some of the best-known contemporary horror films, from The Blair Witch Project to The Babadook. Prepare to add The Witch to that list when it arrives in theaters in 2016. Premiering in Park City in January, Robert Eggers’ feature film debut earned instant acclaim for its evocative recreation of early 17th century America and one family’s terrifying descent into madness and superstition.
A just-released trailer for The Witch above showcases the methodical, atmospheric style that earned the film numerous raves and Eggers a Best Director Prize from Sundance. After being forced to leave an established New England colonial town, a Puritan patriarch (Ralph Ineson) puts down roots on a plot of land nearby a forbidding forest that, rumor has it, is home to a coven of witches. Sure enough, supernatural things begin to occur, from vanishing babies to dairy goats that pass blood through their udders. In the face of this mounting horror, the family begins to turn on each other, getting a jump on the famous Salem witch trials that roiled through the region at the end of the century. Based on this trailer, we’re anticipating that The Witch will cast the same spell over us that ensnared Sundance audiences.
