Sightlines · reception
How The Witch was received
2016 · Robert Eggers · The Witch on Sightlines
The arc
Critics adored it out of Sundance 2015, but its slow-burn Puritan dread earned a notorious C- CinemaScore from audiences expecting a jump-scare machine — a decade on, it's canonized as the film that kicked off the A24 'elevated horror' era and launched Robert Eggers and Anya Taylor-Joy.
What’s debated
It's the eternal 'is it even scary?' fight — and ground zero for the debate over whether 'elevated horror' is a meaningful category or a snobby insult to the genre.
Its footprint
'Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?' escaped the film entirely and became a meme, a tattoo, and a lifestyle slogan — while Black Phillip the goat became an unlikely pop-culture icon with his own merch and fan following.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd-era horror cornerstone: the A24 horror starter-pack film and the 'you must have seen this' entry point to Eggers.
Did you know? The Satanic Temple officially endorsed the film and hosted screening events around its release — a marketing coup A24 leaned into — while on set, Charlie the goat playing Black Phillip was so uncooperative he injured actor Ralph Ineson.
Named by the director
- The Shining (1980) — Eggers has repeatedly named Kubrick's film as a formative horror touchstone for the slow-mounting dread he aimed for in The Witch.
- Ingmar Bergman — Eggers cited Bergman as a core influence in interviews around The Witch, pointing to his austere, faith-haunted family dramas.