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Is it heavily anti-Christian? Does it slander Jesus and find a way to make fun of his followers (and not just Puritans) or the traditional family structure? I could see atheist hipsters and liberal Hollywood types and Jews giving high praises for that reason alone. Genuinely curious.
No.
Also, atheists, hipsters, and liberals make up a massive amount of the general population that isn't "in the business". But keep painting with that broad brush.
It's getting bad reviews because the ignorant masses want an incredibly cheesy movie that just gives you quick scares throughout.
I sat in a packed theater for "When a stranger calls" probably 10 years ago. It was ****ing horrible. Ripe with your horror cliches, girl goes UP the stairs TOWARDS the bad guy. All that ****. Just awful. The worst movie ever. I'm openly laughing, and the rest of the theater is jumping, screaming, and freaking out.
9% on RT, and 40+% audience liked it. A flip of what you see in this situation.
The issue is that The Witch brought in a ton of people who think they love horror movies, but in reality they just like being spooked, but don't have the time to truly get into a horror movie that challenges you and has depth.
The Witch has historical and spiritual depth. If you aren't willing to give it the time to think, then you'll hate it.
I'm gonna heavily disagree with this. Most horror fans that I know are fans of the old school "plot driven" horror films. This one had a couple of issues:
(1) Anti climactic. While the Black Philip scene was very well done, much of the movie leading up to that point had led the viewer believe that an interaction like this would take place; therefore, there wasn't anything truly gleamed during the scene. It's just kind of what everyone expected to happen. That can be overcome by...
(2) doing something we haven't seen before or doing the same thing better, which this didn't do. After the final scene, I literally raised my arms and said, "That's it?". I've found that good plot driven horror is far, far scarier than cheap camera trick horror, but this wasn't scary, wasn't frightening, and the buildup fell flat.
Now, let's dispel some rumors on why people didn't like it:
(1) The Satanic aspect. What person would see a movie about witches that was widely lauded by The Church of Satan, then complain about how it portrayed Christianity? The answer: no one. This is the worst reason I've heard for this. The film does an excellent job at showing how crazy this family was even by the most ardent Baptist/Mennonite/whatever standards.
(2) The "kids don't like plot driven horror" excuse. Please. The crowd at this film was nearly all middle aged. I was one of the youngest in the theater. I'm a HUGE fan of the old school horror films (as has been documented in this thread), and I still thought that this film lacked ending. I agree with an earlier poster that showing the witch in the opening sequences actually took away from a film that attempting to bring terror based on what you didn't see. After that, the witch lost most of her intrigue.
In my estimation, it seems that his film told a story. It told that story very well and beautifully (the score was awesome); however, it's not a story that scared, haunted, frightened, or deeply engaged most audiences. Not just millenials.
