As far as breakout features go, writer/director Robert Eggers and star Anya Taylor-Joy couldn’t have done much better than The Witch, which turned out to be a word-of-mouth sensation in early 2016, with the atmospheric chiller ultimately earning over ten times its $4 million budget at the box office.
A 90% Rotten Tomatoes score and a smattering of awards season recognition also greeted the period-set supernatural tale, and it’s incredible to think that Taylor-Joy thought the movie would mark both the beginning and end of her film career looking at where she finds herself now.
Meanwhile, Eggers followed it up with the hauntingly bizarre The Lighthouse, while he’s got historical action thriller The Northman releasing next year and a remake of Nosferatu still bubbling away in development, the latter two of which will re-team him with Taylor-Joy.
Set in 1630 New England, farmer’s son Samuel vanishes without a trace, leading to the town becoming increasingly gripped by paranoia as everyone begins to suspect that oldest daughter Thomasin has been practicing witchcraft, testing the formerly close-knit unit like never before.
The Witch almost always heads in the opposite direction from what you’d expect, and that’s clearly been keeping HBO Max subscribers enraptured, with FlixPatrol revealing that the film has jumped 37 places on the most-watched list since yesterday.