The Absolute Best Witchcraft Horror Movie According To Reddit
Cauldrons, magic, and pointy black hats have been a Halloween-themed favorite for decades, and with that comes a love for the witchcraft sub-genre of seasonal movies that accompany the costumes. The idea of the witch has haunted the American psyche ever since early American colonists were burning actual women accused of fictional witchcraft at the stake. Its only natural, then, that the witch would hold a vaunted place in our cinematic landscape.
We've seen witchcraft movies go a lot of different ways. There's the Hocus Pocus route, wringing family-friendly comedy out of the notion. Then there's the terrifying found-footage route, pioneered by The Blair Witch Project. There's also the angsty teen drama route, taken by the '90s classic The Craft, which explores how dark magic can affect those that use it.
According to Reddit, these are all great picks for a Friday night, and the list could honestly go on forever, but when it comes to the absolute best witchcraft horror movie, there is one film that stands above the rest.
The Witch claims the top spot
Robert Eggers made his directorial debut in 2015 with The Witch. Set in the 1630s New England, the film centers on a family kicked out of a Puritan colony over a religious dispute. When parents William (Ralph Ineson) and Katherine (Kate Dickie) set up their new homestead on the edge of the forest, strange things start happening, beginning with the disappearance of their newborn son. Soon after, their crops begin to fail.
The family starts to turn on one another, and a family goat named Black Billy isn't what he seems. The eldest daughter, Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), is accused of witchcraft after other family members go missing. Taken altogether, it's a pretty terrifying brew.
Several Reddit users dubbed The Witch as "everything I was looking for in a horror movie." Another claimed, "The Witch was one of the most unsettling horror genre movies I've ever seen."
The jury is out; The Witch takes the cake for the absolute best witchcraft horror movie because of its moodiness and haunting storyline.