Masterful acting combined with a compelling, original story leaves director Robert Eggers’ premiere film “The Witch: A New England Folktale” a memorable, and potentially classic, horror film. Although lacking in the fear department in terms of shocks and gore, the movie dives into a deeper type of horror, similar to that of “The Silence of the Lambs.”

To many, the titular witch is not the one providing the fear throughout the movie. Her omnipotent presence in clear and consistently unnerving, but the true horror comes in the form of paranoia through the family the film centers around. After they are excommunicated from their 17th century Puritan community, the God-fearing family settles upon a plot of land in the woods. The youngest child, only a baby, is kidnapped- and killed by a witch, unbeknownst to the family- while suspicion and blame sets in among family members.

Grief and longing for their past life heightens the tension, and a poorly timed jest leaves the eldest child, Thomasin, as the primary suspect for the kidnapping and family’s disintegration. Anya Taylor-Joy, the actress who plays Thomasin, does a fantastic job at illustrating the loss of innocence of her character, highlighting not only the unjust prejudices her family forms against her as a result, but demonstrating the helplessness and inability to escape her quickly-worsening situation.

Among all of this uncertainty and desperation, Eggers holds remarkable control over the story. The pacing is constant and on the slower side, allowing the sinister moments to be fully appreciated, but not overdone. The seeming simplicity of the story allows deeper messages of innocence, pride, and mistrust to be brought out clearly, but remain mysterious. The way that Eggers crafted his film allows for a lot of audience interpretation, and that quality gives the movie a new, lasting layer of fear that could not have otherwise been achieved.

For the most part, Eggers’ film was not horrifying in the way that other horror films are. It is filled with suspense, which at times possibly should have been capitalized upon more, as there were no distinctly terrifying parts. Overall, the movie leaves an impression that most cannot. The cause of the family’s downfall is ambiguous, and the overarching concept is deeply disturbing, but in a ponderous rather than disgusting way.

“The Witch” stands apart from recent horror films in this way. The setting is unique, the dialogue is authentic and the omission of knowledge and subsequent suspicion remain the scariest part of the film. A deeply effective film, Eggers’ “The Witch” will likely find its ranks among the classics of the horror genre.