The Witch (2016)

A Puritan family with five children leaves their community over religious differences and settles in an isolated area, near the edge of a forest. Soon after the move, the baby disappears while being watched by Thomasin, the eldest, and it is assumed a wolf snatched him. The family starts to fray from stress and paranoia, with Thomasin suffering the brunt of accusations and suspicion.

This is a remarkably effective film. It's the inevitability of the story that's truly frightening. To understand what is going to -- what must -- happen, even when it's irrational is just such a helpless, terrible thing. You know that no amount of reasonable discourse can change the mind of someone who has bought into rhetoric and fear.

Pitch-perfect up until the very end, which I found to be a letdown.

B