38DaysofNight’s review published on Letterboxd:
"Black Phillip tis a merry, merry king he rules the land with mirth... Black Phillip has a mighty, mighty sting; he'll knock thee to the earth. Sing bah bah, King Phillip the Black, sing bah, bah, bah, bah, bah."
It pains me to say it, but I might like this better than The Northman.
Perhaps it's my New England upbringing or my contrarian nature...
Maybe it's my unabashed affection for all things Satanic.
Honestly, I can't be sure because all of Robert Eggers' movies sit at an odd angle in my mind.
I like all of them, and he blows me away every time, but when I think of the greatest movies I've ever seen, none are anywhere near the winner's podium.
Even more striking is that as a practicing heathen and amateur Germanic anthropologist, I should undoubtedly like Eggers' latest offering more than this.
But I'm not sure I do.
I mean, I have only an academic relationship with the Christian faith, and if it weren't for the Great Serpent, I wouldn't know anything about it at all.
And maybe that's the thing...
The insanity on display in The VVitch is the real terror, and although this is obviously a 'paranormal' tale, this kind of shit was all too real back in the day.
The schizophrenic adherence to Abrahamic myth is one of the worst things to ever happen to the world, and watching it play out in glorious detail is fascinating...and terrible.
You can taste the tension here, and Eggers forces us to ride the lighting all the way to the fire pit, so if you, for some ungodly reason, have yet to see this, I guess there's only one question to be asked...
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?
