Master Rank #447

The Witch

2015

GCML Total8.5440% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Robert Eggers

CastAnya Taylor-Joy · Ralph Ineson · Kate Dickie

USA / CanadaEnglishHorror / Mystery92 minR
GCML CuratedNarrative FeatureBrisk pace
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Banished Puritan settlers in 1630s New England face crop failure, a missing infant, and suspicion centered on teenage daughter Thomasin.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

William and Katherine establish an isolated farm at the edge of a New England forest after leaving their Puritan settlement. Their infant vanishes while watched by daughter Thomasin, and crop failure, twins' games, and religious fear fracture the family.

Why it belongs

The Witch makes Puritan belief the medium of horror through period speech, natural light, animal presence, and a forest that absorbs every certainty.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Candlelit rooms, gray fields, rotten corn, a black goat, whispered prayer, and Mark Korven's scraping choral score make faith sensorially oppressive—Anya Taylor-Joy's Thomasin remains alert inside a family interpreting crisis as sin.

Major award wins

No verified wins in this six-institution crosswalk.

Awards are reference metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20

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