Here's what 'The Witch' would look like if Wes Anderson had directed it

By Rick Marshall Published December 6, 2016

The Witch as a Wes Anderson Movie - Trailer Mix

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson is known for his signature, quirky sensibilities in films like The Grand Budapest Hotel and Rushmore, so it stands to reason that films of any genre would look quite a bit different with him behind the camera.

For example, this year’s surprise hit The Witch — a supernatural thriller about a puritan family tormented by malevolent forces in 1630s New England — feels like a distinctly less terrifying experience when filtered through the lens of a fan-made trailer created in the style of Anderson’s films.

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Produced by the team at CineFix, the faux trailer for The Witch is set to the sort of jaunty piano tunes that permeate Anderson’s films, and spins one of the year’s darkest, most disturbing horror films into a silly romp about an eccentric family getting into all manner of hi-jinks after leaving their colony to make a new home for themselves on the edge of a forest. Some creative editing to go along with the lighthearted music completes the effect, and turns The Witch into, well … a very convincing Wes Anderson movie.

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The only thing this version of The Witch seems to be missing, in fact, is a cameo from Bill Murray (and maybe an appearance by Jason Schwartzman, too).

For anyone who missed it, The Witch is available on the home-entertainment market now — but consider yourself warned: It’s decidedly more scary than this Wes Anderson trailer suggests. There’s a very good reason why the film’s first trailer generated a significant amount of buzz and is widely considered one of the scariest movie trailers ever released.

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All of Wes Anderson’s movies, ranked

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The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling is out now — here’s how to listen to the podcast

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Everyone has an opinion about J.K. Rowling. To some, she's simply the author of one of the most beloved children's book series of all time, Harry Potter. To others, she's an outspoken feminist who writes detective novels under an assumed name. To most people, she's now known as the famous person who has espoused views that are discriminatory toward trans people.

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