10 Best Horror Movies Of The Decade So Far

There are certain movies out there that make your blood go solid and your poo turn runny; The Witch is one of these. It seems that witches, New England and Puritans are a recurring motif in the modern horror genre and The Witch plummets into this world with an exquisite attention to detail. There are no cheap tricks here, no laboured jump scares; just fear and emptiness.

Set in the North East of America during the 17th century, The Witch follows the livelihood of a deeply puritanical family that presumably came over on the Mayflower to discover a free world where fairy tales are born large. Ralph Ineson, who you’ll recognise as Finchy from The Office, plays the surly commanding father whose gruff voice sounds like it’s made of sandpaper and shrapnel looms large over Anya Taylor-Joy’s character struggling with her feminine role in this deeply religious world.

Then there’s the witch in the woods. The type that steals babies and created the myths and stories that still remain today. It feels like a deeply personal horror film, it’s like reading someone’s murder diary where you can’t stop turning pages.

The Witch is, and beware this is going to be a very pretentious sentence, one of those instances where what you don’t see is more horrific and disturbing than what you do. If feels authentic, desperate and lonely in the most Puritanical sense. Admittedly, it’s my sort of horror movie.