Witch Hunt review – a downright offensive attempt at political horror | Film
An unlucky impact of Jordan Peele’s masterly Get Out is the current slew of horror flicks which have additionally tried to double as specific social commentary, but find yourself both ineffective or tone-deaf. The slavery horror Antebellum is a primary instance, as is the cringey trailer for the forthcoming Karen. And now now we have this extraordinarily clumsy movie that hinges on the premise of a contemporary, dystopian US the place magic exists however is outlawed.
The movie opens with the literal and metaphorical definitions of “witch-hunt” being typed throughout a clean display, so all hopes of subtlety fly out the window. The story explores a younger lady’s rising pains amid the authorized and social persecution of witches. Excessive schooler Claire (Gideon Adlon) tries to slot in together with her prejudiced pals whereas hiding her personal fearful secret: her mom is part of an Underground Railroad-like system that helps the witches cross into Mexico for asylum. Initially resentful of the operation, Claire confronts her personal intolerance after creating a friendship with two orphaned younger witches whose mom is burned on the stake.
Like numerous low-budget horror films, the VFX aren’t nice; this might not essentially be an issue if the movie had crafted an environment of precise suspense. As a substitute, random horror parts – soar scares and the like – are inserted right into a story that may have labored higher as a thriller. The political commentary is on even shakier floor: the movie appropriates pictures of real-life oppression towards individuals of color, comparable to border patrol buses taking the undocumented to detention centres, however the witches are invariably white ladies – it’s not solely careless however downright offensive. Although analyzing how ladies’s our bodies are managed and surveilled by the state – there’s a scene the place Claire is subjected to a medical examination for witch moles – such factors ring grossly hole. All in all, it is a horror that’s neither intelligent nor scary.
