Small 'The Witch' Movie Details That Make It Even More Of A Masterpiece
Director Robert Eggers spent four years researching to make The Witch as historically accurate as possible. So you know there are a host of Easter eggs and historical references to be found in the 2015 slow burner. Fans of the film will surely love The Witch movie details.
Scroll on for a collection of the most chilling and fascinating insights from fans on Tumblr and subreddit r/MovieDetails. * Note: spoilers for The Witch ahead.
1. A theory that could change everything
From Redditor u/RooBlemford:
The food on the farm is infected by ergot fungus, a hallucinogenic fungus. Many scholars believe that ergot poisoning contributed to the paranoia surrounding the Salem witch trials in 1693.
2. Just a bit of foreshadowing
From Redditor u/AlfonzoG_YT:
When bullying Mercy, Thomason tells her she "dances naked through the woods," which is more or less what she does at the end of the movie.
3. Historically accurate
From Redditor u/AlfonzoG_YT:
Jonas and Mercy claim to have forgotten their prayers, which angers Katherine and William. In Christian religion, witches, or those cursed by witches, are said to be unable to complete a prayer.
4. Katherine's coldness toward Thomasin
From YouTube commentor Luciano Prestes:
The mother represents the sin of avarice, because she spends a lot of time regarding her precious silver cup and planning to sell her own daughter. Also, the boy's final prayer was really disturbing. It wasn't he was proclaiming his love for Christ, but more like he was in love with Christ.
From YouTube commentor tom roadrunnr:
I feel like that was the Witch or Phillip taunting the mother. At one point she mentioned a dream where she had sex with Jesus - or, at least that's what I gathered from her description.
From YouTube commentor dirty dan:
Didn't he say kiss me? That's how Jesus was betrayed by a kiss from Judas. The devil got into Caleb.
5. Black Phillip Is A Bad Sign
From Redditor u/wifi9:
There is always a scene featuring Black Phillip before something bad happens.
From Redditor u/vegatr0n:
I'm not sure this detail is 100% accurate, but I love The Witch so much I don't even care.
Behind the scenes, the goat who played Black Phillip was an absolute nightmare to deal with. He was extremely hard to control, and he injured several of the cast members, including dislodging a tendon in Ralph Ineson (the dad)'s ribs.
6. The fate of the twins
From Redditor u/Madlyneedahouse:
When the first baby is killed, the baby is ground up and rubbed over the witch's body. We then see her rubbing a long stick down with the same blood. It was believed at the time that witches used blood to give them the power of flight.
After Thomasin wakes up at the end of the film, and the twins are nowhere to be found, she goes into the woods where she finds a circle of women dancing around a bonfire. All of them are covered in blood. They then begin to levitate.
Thomasin, who hasn't touched the blood of her siblings is, however, covered in her mother's blood.
From Redditor u/Rennim:
The Witch probably took them and left Thomasin. All the other occurrences with the Witch were likely to frame Thomasin, and this was the last.
7. "Like a sheep separated from the herd"
From YouTube commentor Mayfloweralways:
I saw their separation from the town as a sheep being separated from the herd. It becomes vulnerable to the wolf. That’s when the family becomes the target of evil. Notice, every time the father says he is headed back to town, that’s prevented. All attempts to rejoin “the flock” are thwarted.
Keeping the family isolated was the first step. Second was to slowly isolate Thomasin from her family “flock.” And we know that her mother never looked at her the same after the baby was killed... By forcing Thomasin to kill her own mother, she is now someone who has not only murdered, but murdered her own mother. She probably sees herself as damned to hell at that point, no matter what she does. So if she is, if you can’t beat’em, join’em, you know? I think it’s really about how we’re most vulnerable when we’re isolated from support.
8. Why the pail fills with blood
From YouTube commentor Abu 'Afak:
That's another folklore, that they will suckle on your animals' teats so that they only give blood instead of milk.
9. The lore about witches and babies
From YouTube commentor Abu 'Afak:
The folklore is that the fat from a unbaptized babe is required as an ointment that enables a witch to fly.
10. The missing goblet
From YouTube commentor MookieaMoose:
Did anyone notice toward the end the mother's silver goblet that the father had sold was back on the shelf? It is in the background, after the crow scene. I feel the mother got involved as well in some way with a supernatural force in order to get the goblet back and to see her children. That's why her children tell her to read them the black book, which was the same book introduced to the daughter at the end.
11. The power of Black Phillip
From Redditor u/tycllns:
I think all of the events in this movie were completely orchestrated by Black Phillip. He was with them all along. It started small. He somehow exploited the father's sin of pride to get the family out into the woods. The family itself was not the goal. It was the girl, obviously. The family were just pawns in a spiritual chess game.
Black Phillip's whole goal is to corrupt the innocent, so that's what he does. He disillusioned the daughter and broke her faith by breaking her family. We see two or three scenes in which she doubts her piety, and this is the flaw Phillip exploits in her.
This is where it gets interesting. I feel that Phillip's whole plan was to get the girl in such a position that she would come to him. This was totally necessary as he can't break the living's free will.
From Redditor u/TeamDonnelly:
Don't agree that Black Phillip was always after the daughter. He was working the twins, and that failed. Then he tried the mom, and that failed. The daughter was the only one who was genuinely a good, normal girl who didn't use her religion to explain her actions. She genuinely believed, and then was broken and willing to foresake her soul for a tangible gain.
12. Black Phillip's eyes
From YouTube commentor Reyne Moriarty:
Does anyone notice that Black Phillip (the goat)'s eyes? His eyes are not normal goat eyes with the rectangle-esque shape. They're oddly human.
13. Is Thomasin really free?
14. Similarities between The Witch and Midsommar
15. The meaning behind the spelling of The VVitch
From Redditor u/Txtoker:
Another detail: Two V's together kind of look like a W.
From Redditor u/Earthmens-9:
It’s officially spelled The Witch. The “VV” was the graphic design choice for the logo and poster, based on old English typographical use during that period, of double V to spell W.
16. William's temper
From YouTube commentor fusobotic:
I took the wood chopping to be a symbol for wrath or pride, instead of just masculinity, which the father showcases a lot towards the end of the film. He also seems to chop wood whenever he's angry at God or his situation.
This was originally published on Ranker.com.
Comments