IMDb rating: 7

Directed by: Robert Eggers

Other cast members: Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie

Movie duration: 92 minutes

Synopsis: In the 1630s, English settlers arrive at the shores of the region that would later be called New England. A family, led by a man called William (Ineson), is banished from their settlement to the edge of the wilderness due to an unknown religious transgression. Their luck only worsens after that, as their livestock begins to die, crops fail, and the infant son of William and his wife Katherine (Dickie) disappear. Thomasin (Taylor-Joy), their eldest child, is then accused by her paranoid parents of witchcraft. Is she really a witch or an innocent victim of hysteria?

Why you should watch it: Not only is Taylor-Joy splendid here, but the movie itself is the perfect kind from the horror genre — in my opinion anyway. A period setting, an isolated house and a creeping sense of dread and unease that eventually leads to a brilliantly shocking payoff — everything I need in my horror cinema. Taylor-Joy is remarkably subtle in her performance here, infusing the role with both innocence and ambiguity that may (or may not) suggest evil on Thomasin’s part.