People getting lost in the woods for better with the musical Brigadoon or worse, the original The Blair Witch Project and more have been around since the early cinema days. Five young women searching for adventure, self-healing, and answers to mysterious disappearances are at the centre of The North Witch, a film by director Bruce Wemple and writer Anna Shields.
Madison’s (Anne Shields) roommates have just given her an ultimatum to move out. Needing a place to stay, she calls her friend Gemma (Jessy Holtermann) and gets an invitation to an already-planned hiking trip. Talia (Kaitlyn Lunardi), Alice (Ameerah Briggs), and Laura (Brianna Cala) hike across the Canadian wilderness toward the infamous site of The Barren Cabin. The back story is forty people have gone missing in this area. The events of the disappearances are linked to a reappearing spectral cabin that vanishes when the authorities arrive. It does not take long for them to see signs that something isn’t right, like the vacant space where the cabin has been geo-located. Even a dead raven hung upside down from a tree, along with the wallet of a recently missing YouTuber.
The North Witch makes the journey into the woods short with a time to character development on the drive, which does not result in many personalities emerging. Further trouble arises as a storm blows in, resembling a planetary ion event from the original Star Trek series. The wind, the electric charges, and the crashing of bodies against trees result in the women being separated. Anna finds shelter in a cabin that appears. She finds one of the other women in the forest just in time for her to die an agonizing death.
“…the infamous site of The Barren Cabin. The back story is forty people have gone missing in this area.”
Hoping for rescue, Madison and Talia (Kaitlyn Lunardi) stay in the cabin. Talie undergoes a demonic transformation brought on by the atmosphere. The film becomes a two-hander of survival for Anne as her former friend torments her with vicious words, progressing to very graphic first aid treatment involving needles and the constant fear of being axed.
The North Witch draws inspiration from many works such as The Evil Dead, Cabin in the Woods, and even the real Canadian folk horror story of the family known as the Black Donnelly’s. You get a monster mash of ideas like the discovery of a creepy drawing book, portraits right out of Roger Corman’s The Fall of the House of Usher, and time distortion. Mysterious evil entities that force self-mutilation upon people to make them “pay.” The musical score Nate Van Deusen recalls a subtle version of Hammer Film music without bombastic themes.
The film is successful as a battle for survival, punctuated by unintentional humour as a police officer teaches Anne how to do a tracheotomy on his wounded partner. A lot of screams, not much gore, but some unsettling image of the toothless Talia grinning makes for an odd mix of terror.
"…The Evil Dead meets Canadian folk horror..."
