WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.

I grew up in the era of Blockbuster and movie rental stores, an era where a green sticker on a VHS tape’s spine meant you were in for a treat. I also unfortunately grew up in an age where horror films were becoming more and more mundane. In recent years we have seen an influx of subpar remakes such as "Friday the 13th" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street," as well as straight-up-bad original works like "The Purge" and "Paranormal Activity." Why do I find these films so boring? The problem lies within the reliance on “jump scares.” You know, those moments where everything gets super quiet and then suddenly super loud? Yeah, those things. Those scenes aren’t scary. They’re startling, sure. But scary? Not a chance. What is scary is being able to create a certain atmosphere. If your film has the right atmosphere it can keep you frightened and on the edge of your seat for more than a few milliseconds, and the best film to capture such a chilling atmosphere in recent years is a film titled "The Witch."

For those unaware, "The Witch: A New England Folktale," is a 2015 (released worldwide 2016) film directed by Robert Eggers, in his directorial debut. In the film, set in the 17th century, a family of six (a man, his wife, and their four children) are cast out of a plantation by its Puritan leaders. After many months of living in the forest, Katherine (the mother) gives birth to a child, Samuel. Samuel is kidnapped by, you guessed it, a witch living in the woods. The family then begins to turn on each other, accusing one another of killing the infant, and from there the film continues to escalate and escalate, through one frightening moment after another, until the final climax. I won’t ruin the movie for you but if you’ve yet to see it now would be a good time before continuing to read.

The atmosphere of this film can be described as dark, cold and unforgiving, where you are constantly on the edge of your seat anticipating what will come next. This film doesn’t rely on the jump scare tactic, it relies on fear of the unknown, it relies on leaving you guessing what exactly is happening to this family. There is barely any music in this movie, but when there is, it's nothing but brooding dark ambient tones along with a howling choir that sounds like it is writhing in pain. The cinematography is absolutely astounding, nothing like the common found-footage films we see today. And the story is just phenomenal; while some people left my theater grumbling and upset at the outcome for the family, I left truly chilled to the core and astonished at the piece of art just viewed. It reminded me of the first time I viewed other great horror films like "The Thing" or "Night of the Living Dead," and it’s not surprising to see so many others say the same.

My only hope is that other directors learn from this film and understand one thing: the new formula for horror movies does not contain found footage; it does not contain offbeat action scenes, and it certainly does not contain any jump scares. Rather, the new formula isn’t new at all; the new formula looks at older horror films and realizes just why those films were so terrifying in the first place. Eggers has this formula perfected.