The Witch

Recently, you may have noticed an increase in spider activity in your home. It's their mating season, and they come out to find partners. They are usually attracted to wet fabrics, so be careful where you leave your clothes or check your towels before wiping your face, unless you enjoy the traditional jump scare.

October is also characterized as the "spooky season," mainly due to its historical, cultural, and seasonal connections to Halloween and themes of death, the supernatural, and the end of the harvest. It is also linked to Puritanism and English settlers in America during the 17th century.

The New England colonists brought with them stories of magic, supernatural mysteries, and ancient legends from Europe. This folklore has endured through the centuries and, intertwined with the dense forests, foggy coasts, and picturesque villages of the area, served as a source of inspiration for writers and filmmakers such as Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King, David Lynch, Robert Eggers, and many others.

With a strong desire to honor his homeland’s heritage, Robert Eggers dedicated several years to meticulous research for his most acclaimed film,
The Witch.

The plot reflects the colonial era of New England, where a Puritan family is ostracized from their community due to religious differences between the church and the family’s father, William. His wife Katherine and their four children are forced to create a new life by building a farm on the edge of a remote forest, where they face the harsh realities of life in the wilderness.

Unbeknownst to him, William and his pride condemned his family to certain death as their crops wither, their chickens lay rotten eggs, and their goat produces blood instead of milk. The family begins to lose hope when the eldest son mysteriously falls ill, and this unexpected event ignites tensions and paranoia, leading the family to despair.

The director meticulously crafted a chronologically accurate work of art. To achieve this, he followed historical written accounts of witches, including diaries, practices, and court records. In particular, he turned to the writings of Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister who showed a keen interest in documenting witchcraft in 17th and 18th-century New England. Some scenes of the film are directly inspired by Mather's work.

Eggers painstakingly crafted the dialogue for The Witch, authentically capturing the language and dialect of the time. He paid great attention to vocabulary, syntax, and speech patterns, transporting the audience back to the 17th century. He also expanded into the visual aesthetics of the film, with particular precision in costume design, set decoration, and candle lighting that strongly evoke the atmosphere of that era. However, the true magic of the film comes from his inspiration in the fairy tales and legends of the time.

Of course, the film's script and European folklore about witches have roots in our national heritage, the myth of Lamia. So, what is your favorite October film or your favorite "otherworldly" story?