Black Philip

Finally got time to watch the much acclaimed Robert Egger’s 2016 The VVITCH. The film is menacing and does have a set of visuals that will linger in your mind for quite some time. Shot entirely using natural light and a unique aspect ratio (1.66:1 aspect ratio ) the film delves in the world of withcraft.

Shot in 25 days, the film is a tight narrative of tales of the delicious temptation, isolation and depression, the symbolic and the supernatural. While our local film here heavily depend on cheap scares, bad makeups and a long fucking list of why the devil turned evil, Robert thoughtfully placed suspense and danger to the audience.

He gave us space to built reasonings on our own.  

 "The Angelus" from Jean Francois Millet in the burial scene.

Its interesting to note that The Satanic Temple has endorsed this movie and hosted several screenings of the film. Their spokesperson, Jex Blackmore, addressed the film as "an impressive presentation of Satanic insight that will inform contemporary discussion of religious experience."

One thing that stands out is a 210-pound billy goat named Charlie, he plays a symbolic representation of the Devil himself as Black Philip. 

In Basque mythology the black goat is a commonly known figure related to the Devil. The magical encounter between witches is called 'Akelarre,' which in Basque means "meadow of the goat." Francisco de Goya painted about witches and a black goat in 1798.

 

The term "Akelarre" was popularly spread with the "Zugarramurdi Witches Burning process" during the Spanish Inquisition in 1610, just a few years before Salem's one. In that judgment, some Basque women were found guilty for being witches and for participating in satanic rituals (similar to the one appearing in the movie) and were burned alive.

Baphomet is an occult, pagan, and religious icon and an anthropomorphic figure with the head and legs of a goat and the body of a human. In the modern day, Baphomet is who most would identify as the Satan goat and the symbol of the Church of Satan, a modern religious organization.

 

Nonchalant yet intriguing and menacing, Charlie caused real terror in the set.

Ralph Ineson the actor hated him “He was horrible. Really, really horrible. From the moment we set eyes on each other it was just kind of hate at first sight. He had two modes: chilling out and doing nothing, or attacking me.”

On the fourth day of filming, Charlie rammed his horns into Ineson’s ribs, dislodging a tendon. “Everything hurt,” Inerson recalls. “I spent the rest of the five-week shoot on painkillers.”

 “If we wanted him to be doing something violent, he wanted to go to sleep. If he was supposed to be standing still, he was running around like a madman,” Eggers recalls. He credits the film’s editor, with piecing together whatever usable footage they had into the acclaimed performance.

p/s - Stephen King, who is often called the "master of horror," said that he was terrified by this film.