Robert Eggers’ The Witch is a horror film with Christians as the victims. Banished from their settlement, a Puritan family lives on a farm in 1630s New England. They pray to God, yet He will not protect them from the Devil.
William (Ralph Ineson) is a God-fearing man, holding on to his faith, despite losing everything. But unlike Job, he will not receive a double blessing. Mirroring the words of ABBA, the Devil takes it all.
William teaches his son Caleb how to shoot a rabbit, but the musket backfires in his face. He sold his wife’s silver cup to buy hunting gear—a decision he might now regret. This man can hunt like Elmer Fudd.
Alice followed the white rabbit, and Caleb follows the black rabbit. But Caleb can’t hunt any better than his father. When he comes home, he has no rabbit, no gun, and no clothes. He got mugged by a witch!
Like the evil Queen in Snow White, the witch stuffs a poison apple in Caleb’s mouth. But when he coughs it up, he doesn’t get a fairy tale ending. He cries out to the Prince of Peace and dies.
Christ said, “Those who humble themselves will be exalted.” But William’s humility won’t exalt him in this life. He repents of his pride, and a black goat, possessed by the Devil, gores him into the woodpile.
Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) makes a deal with the Devil by signing his book and removing her shift. In exchange, she gets to fly naked and see the world. Cindy Lauper was right: Puritan girls just want to have fun.
Christopher John Lindsay 