History Film / TheWitch

* AerithAndBob: The parents have rather mundane English names (William and Katherine), and name their children after Biblical characters (Caleb, Jonas, and Samuel) or values (Mercy) - with one exception: Thomasin.
** Thomasin is named after a Biblical character, it's the female version of Thomas.

''The Witch: A New-England Folktale'' (stylized as ''The [=VVitch=]'') is a ReligiousHorror historical drama film directed by Creator/RobertEggers and starring Creator/AnyaTaylorJoy. The movie originally debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival (where it won the Best Director award in the Drama category), and was released to wide audiences on February 19, 2016 by Creator/{{A24}}.

* ForcefulKiss: [[spoiler:The witch]] gives one to [[spoiler:Caleb]] when he comes across her domain and she appears as a beautiful young woman.

* ForWantOfANail: The movie may not have happened had William swallowed his pride and prevented his expulsion from the Commonwealth.

* SoldHisSoulForADonut: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:When Thomasin asks Black Philip what he can give her, he offers "the taste of butter" and "a pretty dress". Between her repressed, puritan upbringing and the desperate situation she's in, its enough to get her to to sign his book.]]

** When Thomasin is [[spoiler: Ritualy reborn as a witch she is, quite fittingly, naked and covered in her mother's blood.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Everyone dies except Thomasin, who joins the witches' coven. [[UncertainDoom We never find out]] what happened to the twins, but it's probably not unrealistic to assume the worst. It goes even further as Katherine and Thomasin definitely signed their souls to the Devil, the twins are implied to have done so as well, and Katherine openly feared that Caleb and baby Samuel were damned. If Heaven exists, William is probably the only one who made it... and considering he was willing to die to redeem his children's souls when he believed them witches, odds are he won't find much peace even in Heaven, knowing his entire family is in Hell. The only upside is Thomasin is happy in her new coven.]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The opening scene, for William, where he expertly defends his actions from the hypocrisy of the Puritan council...and consequently gets his whole family banished from the community when [[HonorBeforeReason he's too stubborn to swallow his pride]] and accept an offer of clemency from the council if he recants his actions.

* AnimalMotifs: Various animals foreshadow the witch's appearance before she actually shows up. There's a hare, a raven, and "Black Phillip" the goat, in particular. Hares and rabbits are sometimes associated with irrational fear, ravens are associated with prophecy and witchcraft, and the horned goat [[spoiler: is associated with Satan himself]]. There are also stories of witches transforming themselves into rabbits or hares, and sneaking onto farms to suck milk out of various animals....like goats.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:"Wouldst thou like to live...[[EvilTastesGood deliciously]]?"]]

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:The witch that seduces Sam]] wears the brightest colored clothes in the movie.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_witch_poster.jpg]][[caption-width-right:310:''[[TagLine Evil takes many forms.]]'']]

* KillTheCutie: The first victim of the witch in the film is [[spoilers: the family's baby, Samuel]].

* KillTheCutie: The first victim of the witch in the film is [[spoilers:the family's baby, Samuel]].

* DaylightHorror: Much of the film takes place in the daytime. Particularly notable is when Samuel disappears in broad daylight.

* PleaseWakeUp: The mother's reaction after [[spoiler:Caleb]] dies.

* OedipusComplex: Katherine accuses her daughter Thomasin of seducing her father William and her brother Caleb, believing her responsible for the family's misfortune and tries to kill her for it.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:"Wouldst thou like to live...deliciously?"]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Wouldst thou like to live...deliciously?"

* DistressedWoodchopping: The family got banished from their village and set up a family farm on the edge of the woods. William (the father) has a habit of going to chop wood when he's frustrated to relieve stress.

* SexIsEvil: Par for the course for a 17th-century Puritan family. Caleb clearly has a lot of angst about hitting puberty, and he frequently finds himself [[MaleGaze sneaking peaks at his sister's cleavage]]. Appropriately, [[spoiler: the witch appears to him as an alluring woman who seduces him]]. Likewise, Thomasin [[spoiler: sees the devil as a handsome dark-haired man who invites her to "live deliciously"]], and the last scene of the movie shows her [[spoiler: stripping off her clothes and going to join a nude witches' dance in the forest]], which can be seen as a dark portrait of female sexual awakening.

* Irony: The Witch Hunt. [[spoiler: It kills everyone ''except'' the witch.]]

* NudeNatureDance: In the final scene, Thomasin joins a group of naked witches performing a ritual around a campfire in the woods.

* SevenDeadlySins: Each member of the family displays one of them at one point.
** Thomasin displays '''Greed''' - as she's persuaded to [[spoiler: sign her soul to the creature that killed her whole family]] at the promise of mundane things like "a pretty dress" and "the taste of butter". When she's asked what she wants, her first response is to ask what she can get.
** Caleb displays '''Lust''' - as he's seen staring at his sister's developing body, making him an easy target for [[spoiler: a witch to seduce him]].
** Katherine displays '''Envy''' - as she gets consumed by jealousy that Thomasin is approaching womanhood. Kate Dickie also feels that she's jealous that Thomasin will be able to have children soon.
** Mercy displays '''Wrath''' - blatantly ignoring any instructions anyone else gives her and going out of her way to be bratty. Not to mention accusing Thomasin of being a witch.
** Jonas displays '''Sloth''' - blindly following everything Mercy does and not establishing his own identity.
** William of course is '''Pride''' - being excommunicated from the village because of it, and trying to make up a farm in the wilderness because he thinks he can. His pride also allows Thomasin to take the blame for things he's responsible for, and doesn't like being called on them.
** Samuel is too young to display '''Gluttony''', but that one is filled by [[spoiler: Satan himself - as he goes to extreme lengths to get Thomasin to join him. Murdering six other people to gain the services of one is extremely wasteful]].

* SoldHisSoulForADonut: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:When Thomasin asks Black Philip what he can give her, he offers "the taste of butter" and "a pretty dress". Between her repressed, puritan upbringing and the desperate situation she's in, its enough to get her to to sign his book.]]