Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

The Witch

Play trailer 2:31 Poster for The Witch R Released Feb 19, 2016 1h 32m Horror History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
91% Tomatometer 338 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
In 1630 New England, panic and despair envelops a farmer, his wife and their children when youngest son Samuel suddenly vanishes. The family blames Thomasin, the oldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, twin siblings Mercy and Jonas suspect Thomasin of witchcraft, testing the clan's faith, loyalty and love to one another.
Watch on Fandango at Home Stream Now

Where to Watch

The Witch

The Witch

What to Know

Critics Consensus

As thought-provoking as it is visually compelling, The Witch delivers a deeply unsettling exercise in slow-building horror that suggests great things for debuting writer-director Robert Eggers.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More (338)
Britt Ashley Bitch Media Like any good horror film, The Witch is rife with opportunity for allegorical interpretation, and one of the most compelling narratives bubbling beneath surface is the origin story of America itself. Feb 10, 2021 Full Review Steven D. Greydanus Catholic Digest The stakes are real. The Devil is real. All roads do not lead up the mountain. Some lead to the heart of darkness, to the depths of a witch-haunted wood. Rated: A Apr 28, 2017 Full Review Nigel Andrews Financial Times The film starts with wordy wittering and ends by trying to woo our shrieks -- from Arthur Miller to Dennis Wheatley in the shortest time possible between two blunt points. Rated: 2/5 Dec 27, 2016 Full Review Bryce Hanson Horror Movie Talk I really can’t say enough good things about this film. It creates a believable world filled with relatable characters, which brings a really unprecedented gravity to some fantastical supernatural elements. Rated: 10/10 Aug 11, 2025 Full Review Kristy Strouse Wonderfully Weird and Horrifying Infectious and influential, The Witch is one of the best horror films of the 2010’s. Jun 26, 2025 Full Review JD Duran InSession Film Elevated symbolically with Eggers’ commentary on how fanatical faith is impossible to live up to, and how that churns out something evil, despite its good intentions. All of that is delicately crystallized in the final moments of The Witch... Aug 8, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More (1000+)
Patrick C It was very good but I barely remember it after watching, it didn't really leave any impression on me. I may or may not watch it again. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/04/25 Full Review Frank J All of the characters feel soulless. Some scenes are creepy but most of the time the movie is too boring. The ending sucks too. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/27/25 Full Review W.L. C As with most modern horror films, the premise of "The Witch" is tired, the visuals bleak for "effect," and the writing is terrible. What irked me most was that it began with promise and tapered off into a wandering, laughable tale that rang of cautionary tales told to young children to scare them into behaving, which, according to the disclaimer in the credits, is where the source material was derived. Clearly, however, there is a market for this drivel, as evidenced by the glowing critical reviews here. Another reviewer stated that "'The Witch' lives...as a horror movie for cinephiles, not for audiences who love the thrill of a good scare." As a cinephile, I can state with certainty that a true cinephile would do well to steer clear of "The Witch" and choose to watch "Dumb and Dumber" to cleanse their mental palate and to again appreciate clarity of purpose in film. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 08/19/25 Full Review Steven O The Witch was strange to me. It dragged a lot, with long, slow scenes of the family just arguing or praying. Most of the tension came from superstition and paranoia instead of actual supernatural stuff. I kept waiting for the witch or the devil to do more, but nothing really happened until the very end. The kids were annoying (especially with their fake symptoms), the parents were exhausting, and Black Phillip was literally just a goat for 95% of the movie. When the devil finally showed up, it was just a man’s voice in the shadows, kind of anticlimactic. The daughter’s switch-up at the end (“okay, I’ll be a witch now”) felt too fast, but the final coven scene was actually cool. I wish there had been more of that throughout. Overall, it wasn’t bad and the atmosphere was eerie, and the ending was strong, but it was slow, strange, and underwhelming at times. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/18/25 Full Review Audience Member Black Phillip! That mortar and pestle scene was horrific! Wow, this film is nightmare fuel. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/16/25 Full Review Rectangular F Great movie, little difficult to understand everything they're saying but it has most satisfing ending! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/06/25 Full Review Read all reviews
The Witch

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

The Witch

The Witch: Official Clip - I Will Guide Thy Hand The Witch: Official Clip - I Will Guide Thy Hand 2:49 The Witch: Official Clip - Witch's Lair The Witch: Official Clip - Witch's Lair 2:31 The Witch: Official Clip - Witch of the Wood The Witch: Official Clip - Witch of the Wood 3:15 The Witch: Official Clip - Take Me To Thy Lap The Witch: Official Clip - Take Me To Thy Lap 2:57 The Witch: Official Clip - Black Phillip The Witch: Official Clip - Black Phillip 1:51 The Witch: Official Clip - Peek-A-Boo The Witch: Official Clip - Peek-A-Boo 1:55 The Witch: Official Clip - The Apple The Witch: Official Clip - The Apple 2:31 The Witch: Official Clip - Black Magic Madness The Witch: Official Clip - Black Magic Madness 3:39 The Witch: Official Clip - Black Magic Madness The Witch: Official Clip - Black Magic Madness 3:39 The Witch: Official Clip - Take Me to Thy Lap The Witch: Official Clip - Take Me to Thy Lap 2:55 View more videos
Mudbound 97% 85% Mudbound Watchlist TRAILER for Mudbound The Dead Lands 68% 57% The Dead Lands Watchlist Freedom 0% 52% Freedom Watchlist In Dubious Battle 26% 39% In Dubious Battle Watchlist TRAILER for In Dubious Battle The Eyes of My Mother 78% 57% The Eyes of My Mother Watchlist TRAILER for The Eyes of My Mother Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1630 New England, panic and despair envelops a farmer, his wife and their children when youngest son Samuel suddenly vanishes. The family blames Thomasin, the oldest daughter who was watching the boy at the time of his disappearance. With suspicion and paranoia mounting, twin siblings Mercy and Jonas suspect Thomasin of witchcraft, testing the clan's faith, loyalty and love to one another.
Director
Robert Eggers
Producer
Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, Jodi Redmond, Daniel Bekerman, Rodrigo Teixeira
Screenwriter
Robert Eggers
Distributor
A24
Production Co
Parts and Labor
Rating
R (Graphic Nudity|Disturbing Violent Content)
Genre
Horror, History, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 19, 2016, Wide
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Apr 1, 2016
Release Date (Streaming)
May 17, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$25.1M
Runtime
1h 32m
Most Popular at Home Now