"The Witch" is a creepy, old school thriller that should frighten everyone who knows what a good scare is

A most creepy and terrifying horror film, something that Hollywood has lost the knack for making. Part The Village, part The Crucible, and part The Blair Witch Project, the movie is at once quietly ominous and hauntingly frightening, as it never gets ahead of its simple story, which slowly builds to a horrific conclusion. Newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy is awesome here, looking like a very young Michelle Williams, but potentially with just as much talent. I realize that many modern moviegoers, when attending a horror movie, will surely expect plenty of gore and a high body count, right from the start. If so, this movie isn't for you. It doesn't follow the current horror-film structure, but it is all the better for it. Filmmaker Robert Eggers is a serious talent, both with the typewriter and behind the camera, and if this movie is any indication, he is the one to watch in the years to come. The final scene of this movie really freaked me out, and if you know anything about what a good fright-fest should be, you will be freaked out as well.

A-