Thomasin (The Witch)
Now, this one is a bit of a cheat. At the beginning of The Witch (2015), Thomasin is no more supernatural than anyone else in her Puritan community. However, the apparently unacceptable religious beliefs of her family slowly but inexorably set her transformation into motion. Or, depending on how carefully you’re paying attention over the course of the film, it could be the monstrously psychedelic effects of ergot poisoning.
Thomasin lives in a world where witches are not merely Halloween set dressing or horror movie fixtures. Neither are they nice folk who worship various deities or practice a sincere form of nature worship. No, for Puritans, witches were very real and very evil. Indeed, witches were agents of the devil and worked specifically to bring down the church. Good Puritans would have to be on the constant lookout for witches, even in their own community.
However, Thomasin’s father, William, has so enraged local magistrates with his religious beliefs that his family has been banished. We never find out what, exactly, those beliefs are, but it must be pretty serious. William, his wife Katherine, Thomasin, son Caleb, and creepy twins Mercy and Jonas head out into the wilderness.
Katherine soon gives birth to their latest child, a son named Samuel. However, while Thomasin is watching Samuel near the edge of the wilderness, a witch kidnaps him. Viewer beware: this part gets a little gross. The unnamed witch has taken baby Samuel to in order to turn him into a mystical flying ointment.
Believe it or not, things get worse from there. Katherine fairly goes off the rails, as any bereaved parent might do. The twins start to claim that the family’s goat, Black Philip, is speaking to them. Caleb is apparently tempted by the witch and dies a dramatic and decidedly creepy death back at the family home. Her father, William, is desperate to provide for his family. This leads to him secretly selling his wife’s prized silver cup and letting the innocent Thomasin take the blame.
In fact, it seems as if the teenaged Thomasin is the locus for all the activity striking the family. Everyone seems to blame her, either directly or indirectly, for the misfortune. Perhaps they’re scared of her growing body or flashes of independent thought.
Soon enough, Thomasin’s family begins to wonder if she is a witch, after all. And, maybe by the end of the film, they weren’t entirely wrong.