MovieChat Forums > The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2016) Discussion > The scene that has lingered in my memory...

The scene that has lingered in my memory for a few days...(spoiler)

posted 8 years ago by thenachoman
62 replies | jump to latest

The scene at the beginning where the Witch kills the baby and then starts doing...stuff, with it. That scene is disturbing. It also is a stylised scene that I have seen rarely in horror films. Usually a scene like this would end in a jump scare, and normally would come at the end of the movie too. So it was strange seeing at the beginning, and just having bizarre and disturbing imagery as opposed to jump scares.

I'm still not really sure what the Witch was doing in that scene, apart from killing the baby (which is disturbing enough).

So while the rest of the film has dissipated from my mind for the most part, this one lingers.

[–] squall6789 8 years ago

It was the first time i was tapping my foot along to the beat of a baby being pulverized, I'll give the scene that...

[–] TooDarnLoud 8 years ago

To me this scene serves the same purpose as the bottle-smashing scene in Pans Labyrinth. It sets up the villain in a horrific way to let you know there is some real *beep* gonna happen if you aren't careful. Powerful stuff.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Tommen_Forever 8 years ago

So many great scenes in the film. The witch kissing Thomasin's brother was also pretty shocking, and the raven breastfeeding too. Wonderful, depraved fun 

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Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television

[–] svalinanikola 7 years ago

Yeah, that was a good scene.

[–] jacc1515 7 years ago

The scene at the beginning where the Witch kills the baby and then starts doing...stuff, with it. That scene is disturbing. It also is a stylised scene that I have seen rarely in horror films. Usually a scene like this would end in a jump scare, and normally would come at the end of the movie too. So it was strange seeing at the beginning, and just having bizarre and disturbing imagery as opposed to jump scares.

I've only seen this once a while back, so I don't remember that scene particularly well. As I recall, you see the baby briefly then a naked old woman messing around on a wooden stump that looks to be covered in blood. It was really dark and very brief.

Was there more to the scene that disturbed you or just what was implied?

The scene that stuck with me was the ending where she walks butt naked into the woods at night and ends up at the witches coven around the bonfire. When they start to levitate (again butt naked) and the final shot shows her up at the top of the tree in the "Christ-pose".....

Yeah, that stuck with me for a day or two.

Mother is the name for God on the lips & hearts of all children -Eric D. Raven

[–] horsecoach4hire 7 years ago

Folklore told of witches stealing babies to 'steal' their youth. Whatever was filmed at th beginning of this movie is just a creative interpretation of that folklore: We know witches never did this---hence the original title of the film: It's dealing with what the characters of the time period believed in.

In reality, whatever witches are like today, they sure don't kill babies-they never did. From my research, witches are similar to druids in that they appreciate life and nature and would never harm anything living, but rather learn from the world around them.

[–] javie (2207) 2 years ago

The manufactures are meant to scare the pants off you.