Movies
‘The Witch’ Scared the Hell Out of Stephen King!
How’s this for an epic endorsement?
Stephen King tweeted that Robert Eggers’ The Witch, in theaters this Friday, February 19th, scared the hell out of him!
The Witch scared the hell out of me. And it's a real movie, tense and thought-provoking as well as visceral.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 16, 2016
Our very own Kalyn Corrigan raved about the film, calling it the “Horrific Historical Period Drama We’ve Been Waiting For!”
Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, and Lucas Dawson star in the film rated R “for disturbing violent content and graphic nudity.“
[Related Post] The Satanic Temple to Support and Tour The Witch
“In this exquisitely made and terrifying new horror film, the age-old concepts of witchcraft, black magic and possession are innovatively brought together to tell the intimate and riveting story of one family’s frightful unraveling in the New England wilderness circa 1630.
New England, 1630. Upon threat of banishment by the church, an English farmer leaves his colonial plantation, relocating his wife and five children to a remote plot of land on the edge of an ominous forest — within which lurks an unknown evil. Strange and unsettling things begin to happen almost immediately — animals turn malevolent, crops fail, and one child disappears as another becomes seemingly possessed by an evil spirit. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, family members accuse teenage daughter Thomasin of witchcraft, charges she adamantly denies. As circumstances grow more treacherous, each family member’s faith, loyalty and love become tested in shocking and unforgettable ways.
Writer/director Robert Eggers’ debut feature, which premiered to great acclaim at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival — winning the Best Director Prize in the U.S. Narrative Competition — painstakingly recreates a God-fearing New England decades before the 1692 Salem witch trials, in which religious convictions tragically turned to mass hysteria. Told through the eyes of the adolescent Thomasin — in a star-making turn by newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy — and supported by mesmerizing camera work and a powerful musical score, THE WITCH is a chilling and groundbreaking new take on the genre.”
Visit the film’s official website for more.
In the wake of Backrooms and Obsession, everyone is prowling YouTube for horror shorts to adapt and horror filmmakers to scoop up, so don’t be surprised to see a whole bunch of upcoming articles about YouTube success stories crossing over into theaters. One horror short that’s already been picked up for expansion is Dolly director Rod Blackhurst’s Alone Time.
The 12-minute short was uploaded in 2014 and has amassed nearly 2 million views at the time of this article being written, and Deadline reports that it’s getting a feature adaptation.
Witchcraft Motion Picture Company & Fever Dream will turn the viral short into a feature film.
Alone Time follows Ann Saunders, a young NY professional whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel following a devastating personal loss. “Seeking refuge from a collapsing relationship, a deteriorating family situation, and mounting emotional trauma, Ann reluctantly joins her closest friend on a remote camping trip deep in the Adirondack wilderness.”
The synopsis continues, “When her friend mysteriously disappears, Ann becomes convinced that an unseen figure is stalking her through the forest. What begins as a survival nightmare slowly transforms into something far more disturbing as fractured memories, conflicting realities, and hidden truths force Ann to confront the possibility that the greatest threat may not be lurking in the woods at all, but buried deep within her own psych.”
“Alone Time has quietly followed me for over a decade,” director Rod Blackhurst said in a statement. “What began as a short film about isolation and the weight of life now feels more relevant than ever. The original short found its audience organically online long before that was considered a legitimate path for filmmakers. Bringing it to life as a feature allows us to explore those themes on a much larger and more psychologically unsettling canvas.”
Blackhurst is directing the feature length expansion.
You can watch the original Alone Time short film below.