THE WITCH (full article at The Guardian Australia)

Robert Eggers’ new movie, The Northman, arrives in Australian cinemas this week. In order to get prepped for this bloody tale of Viking vengeance, check out his unsettling horror debut The Witch: a folk horror movie that does not rely on gore to terrify the audience, but instead gradually worms its way under your skin to slowly unnerve you. It’s not the plunge from the top of the rollercoaster but a slow drive down a dark, country lane.

Set in 1630, a Puritan settler family are banished from their New England village after a heated religious argument in the colony. Isolated theologically and physically, patriarch William (Ralph Ineson) moves to the edge of a vast, dense forest with his family: wife Katherine (Kate Dickie) and their children Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), twins Mercy and Jonas (Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson), and infant Samuel. But nature is unforgiving and the family’s crops fail. Suddenly, while under Thomasin’s care, baby Samuel disappears, stolen by a witch who dwells within the forest.

Read the full article at The Guardian Australia:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/apr/20/the-witch-robert-eggers-folk-horror-debut-worms-its-way-under-your-skin

IMDB: The Witch

MIDSOMMAR (full review at Screen Realm)

Midsommar is the second film from director Ari Aster and the follow up to his highly regarded debut Hereditary. 

After experiencing a tragedy, Dani (Florence Pugh) is invited on a trip to Sweden by her insensitive and toxic boyfriend Christian (Jack Reynor). Christian and his friends Josh (Wiliam Jackson Harper) and Mark (Will Poulter) are anthropology students, invited by fellow student Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) to visit the commune in Hälsingland, where he grew up, and to witness a once-every-ninety-years summer festival.

It doesn’t take long for the visitors to warm up to the Hårga and their idyllic, welcoming, psychotropic drug friendly commune. But gradually, slowly, almost imperceptibly, things start to feel off. As the festival continues and events become stranger, the relationships between the visitors become more fraught and before long the situation goes awry.

Read the full review at Screen Realm:
https://screenrealm.com/midsommar-movie-review/

IMDB: Midsommar

WITCHFINDER GENERAL (full review at The Reel Word)

The year is 1645. The English Civil War rages and as half the country fights, the other half borders on anarchy. Superstition runs rampant in the lawless countryside. Young Roundhead soldier Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy), takes leave to see his girlfriend Sara (Hilary Dwyer) and her uncle, the local priest John Lowes (Rupert Davies) in the village of Brandeston. Sensing trouble afoot, Lowes encourages Marshall to marry Sara and take her away from an increasingly volatile local atmosphere. As the war rages on and Marshall and his colleagues are well occupied with the fighting, Witchfinder Matthew Hopkins (Vincent Price), and his associate John Stearne (Robert Russell), patrol the East Anglian countryside torturing, molesting and executing alleged witches and Satan worshippers... so long as the price is right.

Read the full article at The Reel Word:
https://www.thereelword.net/witchfinder-general-conqueror-worm-1968-horror-classic-vincent-price/

IMDB: Witchfinder General