Hacker Cinema
The Witch
Ведьма
2015 · Film · 90 min
Directed by Dmitry Fedorov
A summer youth camp by the sea. Tonya, a quiet, reserved, and gullible girl, becomes neighbors with Lyudka, who is vibrant, assertive, and calculating. They both fall in love with the same boy. Suddenly, it turns out that Tonya possesses supernatural abilities she cannot control.
5 positive2 negative7 neutralfrom 14 commenters
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14 comments on Hacker News
The Witch is actually a really good movie, by the way. One of those horror movies people not into horror movies may miss out on. In case anyone here thinks it's all just hype and controversy.
>I mean satanic parties? Not because some of their employees are satanists, but because they like the look?
as I understand the relatively clear text I was reading A24 wanted to market The Witch, so they made a deal with the Satanic Temple, part of the deal for marketing purposes was to have parties after some showings of The Witch, the person who seemed to like the "look" was mainly Joe Blackmore who was from the Satanic Temple and in charge of planning the parties.
So yes it is true that they did it to generate controversy which would help get lots of free press for their movie which meant people went to see it which got them money to make more movies.
>But when they’re endorsing one religious group to piss off another?
of course the way they generated the controversy was because having Satanic parties would be guaranteed to piss off one particular religious group, which it seems really is the group the Satanic Temple exists to piss off.
I guess making a deal with someone could be seen as a form of endorsement, but in the case of religions it generally isn't seen that way.
I’m not dismissing them at all. They’re a legit religious group.
But I don’t think they’re throwing satanic parties to grow appeal among satanists, or because some of their employees happen to be Satanists - the two reasons companies embrace religious celebrations.
Maybe I’m wrong - maybe they’re trying to brand their movie “The Witch” as a modern Satanist movie, and get a built in audience. Maybe.
What’s more likely is they are trying to be edgy. And they failed. Inviting a bunch of Satanists as a marketing ploy is boring. It’s like something out of marketing satire.
I’m reminded of how Silicon Valley lampooned Satanism the way Monty Python lampooned Christianity.
It’s not offensive. It’s just boring.
Its all fake marketing. What kind of Satanists can't even get their own "pig’s head, for ritual use?" The negative reaction exhibited by the parent comment also figures into the game plan of negative marketing [0]. If this was 30 years ago Blackmore's document would unironically call it "synergy."
Blackmore drew up a document enshrining their shared goal: “Create a narrative and controversy that transforms ‘The Witch’ into an iconic film.” The satanists planned the parties; A24 minded the guest list, and canvassed butchers in search of a pig’s head, for ritual use. 0. https://www.trimarkdigital.com/blog/what-is-negative-marketing/
It wouldn't be that terribly dark. Lighting technology may have been primitive prior to the last 200 years or so, but people, being people, don't like sitting around in dark places if they can improvise alternatives. I think we get a bit fetishistic these days about painting the past as overly dark (both metaphorically and, in this case, literally)
Curiously the 2015 horror movie "The Witch", which takes place on and around a 17th century New England farming community, was supposedly filmed entirely using natural light and lighting appropriate to what was available at the time. You can see everyone's face and gestures.
(Not the poster you’re asking)
What sort of thing are you into? What are some movies you really like? Would help to tune any suggestions.
[edit] Meanwhile, some shots in the dark:
- The Green Knight — Based on the story by the Pearl Poet and expanded and adapted with a combo of other Arthurian tales and the filmmakers’ own twists. Basically, a lonely, somewhat psychedelic (but not in a bright-kaleidoscope-colors sort of way…) dark fantasy journey with tasteful hints of dozens of influences adorning it. A great Winter watch, too. Benefits from the best screen and system you can get in front of.
- You Won’t Be Alone — Broadly horror-themed but not in a Hollywood monster movie or Halloween popcorn muncher sort of way. It’s not really aiming for scares, exactly. Comically similar themes and message to a major widely-lauded off-kilter film from the same year (2022) but approached from a very different angle. Macedonian language. You may worry in the first twenty minutes that you’ve stumbled into the Easter European Indie Movie Doldrums of Mediocrity, but persevere, it starts to come together and develop purpose before long. Hard recommend for fans of The Witch who liked the “historically accurate” grossness & mythology of that film, but it’s not as firmly in the horror genre as that was.
On the lighter (and not quite as good, good) side:
- The Kid Detective — Semi-comedy. Imagine the stereotypical middle-aged guy who’s never topped their time as a high school quarterback. Now imagine if instead of playing football, they were a kid detective (you know, Nancy Drew sorts of stuff) and that is the thing they peaked at in high school. That’s our protagonist. Film sags at times but the premise is so fun and relatively-well-used that it’s still a good time, if that blurb above piqued your interest at all. Certainly a sort of noir, with all that entails, so if Your Hero getting his ass kicked more than doing the ass kicking bothers you, avoid (as with lots of noirs)
- Spontaneous — Dark high school romance-comedy. Also, people, all over the place, have started occasionally suddenly exploding for no evident reason. That’s the movie’s deal. It took me embarrassingly long to realize what it was really about (or, at least a major one of the things it’s about) and it punched me in the damn gut when I did. Oof.
> Anyone with candles and NASA lenses
It isn't the 1970s anymore: Robert Eggers was able to shoot candle-list scenes for The Witch without NASA lenses:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtb0qAu-Hjc
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witch_(2015_film)
The entire movie cost US$ 4M, which was less the $6M for Wiseau's The Room.
Early colonisation America is a great place for witch stories - isolated homesteads, earnestly religious people, old forests with old memories...
The 2015 movie The Witch utilised it damn well.
Had my daughter watch aliens for Halloween cause she was suggesting shit scary movies like the witch. She's 22. Gosh is that movie excellent. The best was the 3 endings where she relaxed and I was like excellent. Esp the spaceship fight. You thought this was over, no the most tense parts of the movie are yet to come.
Oh no, I was afraid someone would take me up on that! Hahaha.
No particular order. Since 2010ish. Not an exhaustive list of all good horror in that time frame.
- You're Next. It's a trad home-invasion/slasher kinda thing but... then changes genre. I'll leave it at that.
- Cabin in the Woods. Needs no introduction? Solid humor-horror.
- Evil Dead. The soft reboot. Pretty good for the kind of thing it is, which is an Evil Dead-type movie, of course.
- The Babadook. Great horror for people who like to be scared but don't want gore. Extremely efficient use of a tiny cast and very few locations.
- It Follows. A core concept that's creepy as hell, and some damn fine imagery that will stick with you. Lots of moody, slow-paced (but good!) scenes but... it does follow. Unsubtly very much about the harmful aspects of sex and sexual behavior.
- The Witch (or, The VVitch, as it's styled). If you like frontier-type stuff, with period-accurate dialog, plus horror, this will very likely be up your alley. Nb that here "frontier" means "New England, probably just a few miles in from the coast", not, like, the "Old West".
- Bone Tomahawk. Action-horror that is set in the Old West. Not exactly a piece of fine film-making but it pretty much does exactly what it sets out to do, and does it well, which makes it a success in my book.
- The Void. Carpenteresque creature work and Lovecraftian baddies. Excellent example of a throwback horror movie that aims to feel like it was made in another decade.
- The Girl with all the Gifts. Some people liked this a lot more than I did, so I'm including it. I thought it was just OK. Basically a zombie movie, kinda.
- Krampus. I'm not usually into Christmas-horror, which tends to be sub-b-grade garbage and otherwise just isn't to my taste, but watched this because I kept seeing it recommended, and... wow, it's actually good. Careful that you get the right film, there are a bunch with similar titles and I'd guess most of them are terrible. This is the 2015 one directed by Dougherty.
- Get Out. I'd call it just OK (I don't... think I was supposed to find as much if it laugh-out-loud funny in the final act, as I did?) but accept that I'm probably wrong about that, given the overwhelmingly-positive reaction.
- Train to Busan. Maybe my favorite zombie-hoards type of movie I've seen.
- Sorry to Bother You. If you like genre-bending and lots of absurdism in your horror, this one's for you.
- Happy Death Day. Slasher x Ground Hog Day, with that concept explored for just about all it's worth. Relatively light-hearted (it'd almost have to be) but not without tension. Sequel's less good—not awful, but a big step down. Same director made a similar film, "Freaky", that's another mash-up concept, and is quite good.
- It Comes at Night. Uh... if you really like movies that make you kinda wish you'd never watched them, not because of, say, realistic gore, but because they sorta make your soul hurt, this is a very good movie of that kind. But maybe don't, though?
- One Cut of the Dead. Brilliant concept, fun throughout. Not in any sense a traditional zombie movie, and I would 100% recommend it to people who usually don't like zombie movies. Don't spoil it, go in as cold as possible. It's one that is much better if you know almost nothing about it before you start.
- Game Night. Horror-adjacent, at least. Not amazing but another one that I watched after being repeatedly assured by many people that it was much better than it looked like it would be (it looked pretty bad), and it was.
- Hereditary. I hated this one but it's another where my opinion is way, way in the minority. Lots of people love it.
- Colour out of Space. If you can tolerate, or actually enjoy, Nic Cage, and like Lovecraftian horror, this is worth a watch. Good FX work.
- The Last Matinee. By-the-numbers slasher set in a Uruguayan movie theater, in the 90s. Great kills, the right kind of gross, good set-up/pay-off, good at making you care enough about almost everyone that you're sad when they get got. Requires tolerance for subtitles.
- Caveat. Tight little small-cast film (I think it was a during-the-pandemic production, maybe?). Very stupid-sounding premise that ends up making enough sense in the film itself, and a lot more by the time it's over.
- Vicious Fun. I probably like this one more than it deserves, but I do like it. Horror-comedy, heavy on very winking-at-the-camera references to other horror films and the genre itself. It gets a little bit of the bad kind of indie-feeling in some of the shot choices and acting, but the way it keeps delivering even when you think it's winding down or running out of tricks is outstanding. Did not go the direction I thought it would, judging just from a short description of the plot.
- My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To. Probably the art-housest film on this list, so keep that in mind before deciding to watch it—you're not in for a standard horror experience, though there is tons of tension and definitely some murderin'. Very good, though. Strongly recommend avoiding spoilers as discovering what the movie's about is a big part of the experience.
- The Haunting of Hill House. OK, so it's a self-contained season 1 of an anthology series, not a movie, but it's (like The Babadook) a really good watch for people who like horror but not a bunch of gore or a sky-high body count. Creators seem to both know what themes are and how to use them for horror, which wouldn't be impressive in an ideal world, but is in this one.
100% agreed re: Spotify, but Netflix's algorithm seems to think that if I liked Annihilation and Arrival then I'll like any young adult or action movie with scifi aesthetic.
Similarly, if I liked The Witch and Hereditary then top recommendations for me must be $5m budget cash grab teen slashers and haunted webcam gimmicks.
I think random selection would be more effective for me than the current Netflix algo(s).
It's been a great decade for horror.
I think Oculus (2013) was the first movie to genuinely scare me. Other favorites: The Babadook (2014), The Witch (2015), Get Out (2017), Hereditary (2018), Us (2019).
Don't get what's "great" about these movies. According to IMDb, the ratings are: Synchronicity: 5.5 Lazer Team: 5.7 Southbound: 5.9 The Witch: 6.7 10 Cloverfield Lane: 7.3 Midnight Special: 6.7 The Lobster: 7.1 Hardcore Henry: 6.8 Elstree 1976: 6.1 High-Rise: 5.7 TMNT: Out of the Shadows: 6.0 Swiss Army Man: 7.1 Kubo and the two strings: 8.1
Surprised I didn't see any of the following on that list: ARQ (6.4), Project Almanac (6.4), Self/Less (6.5), Chappie (6.9), Star Trek: Beyond (7.2), Ex Machina (7.7), Train to Busan (7.6), The Martian (8.0).
So, first it stretches the definition of sci-fi beyond reason (how on earth is The Witch science fiction??), and then to add insult to injury it leaves one of the purest sci-fi movies of the year (The Arrival) off the list (though, I suppose to be fair it's trying to list movies folks may not have heard of... of course then they went and stuck Cloverfield and Midnight Special on the list).
I'm baffled.