10 Best Indie Movies Of 2016 (So Far)

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

This debut feature from writer/director Robert Eggers premiered at Sundance 2015, winning the Best Director Prize in the U.S. Narrative Competition and becoming one of the most talked about films to play at the festival. Word of mouth made this brilliant indie chiller the most anticipated horror of 2016, and it certainly lived up to expectations.

The film begins in the year 1630 when an English farmer, fearing banishment from the church, deserts his colonial plantation and relocates to the wilderness with his wife and five children. The small and secluded plot of land they occupy stands on the edge of a dry and dreary forest, the home of the titular witch.

While horror is a genre that tends to stick to conventions pretty rigidly, Eggers openly and willingly ignores them for the most part, choosing instead to structure his film as a period drama with a naturally terrifying premise. The director painstakingly recreates a God-fearing period in New England's early history, using the family's isolation as a source of natural terror and slowly building towards a violent ending that stays with you long after the film has ended.

The story is seen through the eyes of eldest daughter Thomasin, and the credible performance by impressive newcomer Anya Taylor-Joy adds weight to a deeply unsettling but thoroughly enjoyable film.