Ed's Review Dot Com

Parts and Labor, RT Features, Rooks Nest Entertainment, A24,

Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson

A Puritan family is deeply religious living in the 1600’s in New England. The live on their farm alone and work hard to try to eke out a living in a harsh climate and location. But the children are forbidden to ever go into the woods, and the family seems afraid of what might be in there. But when one child is stolen, and another dies mysteriously after visiting the wood, there is something very evil going on here. This is an art film, and homage to classic horror films of old when it was all about what you don’t see that scares you.

This film is wildly split between the defenders and the haters. Most critics enjoyed the film, whereas Joe Cinema simply hated it. This is NOT another Paranormal Activity found footage film. This is a real work of art. That being said, there are many reasons you very well might want to avoid it like the plague. First, the dialog is done in Olde English and is very hard for the average English speaker to follow. You damn near need subtitles to follow it. This is one problem for a lot of people. Secondly, it’s slow evolving. We get to know the family members and their fears and quirks, but we don’t really know who is involved in what’s going on and who is not. Yes, there is definitely a demon working in this forest, but he’s certainly not what you’d expect. With a very creepy soundtrack and a great setting, it’s a beautiful film in that respect, but it doesn’t rely on the blood and guts and huge soundtrack noises to startle you. We study step by step what is going on here. Another problem is that though the last fifteen minutes or so of the film is very suspenseful, it’s one of those where you’re not given all the answers wrapped up with a pink ribbon and handed to you. You’re going to have to work to figure this out, and I promise you when you’re done, you still won’t have it all figured out. So this will ruin it for the standard theater goer who enjoys modern day horror with lots of clever kills. “How about we suck him into a giant vacuum cleaner?” It’s not at all like that, so be forewarned. With all that being said, I enjoyed watching this movie, and I found myself really trying hard to understand to dialog to get the gist of what they were saying. I must admit I was impressed how even the little children spoke in the Olde English very proficiently. How did they do that? But I didn’t love this film, and run to give it 5 stars, as I do feel it has it’s flaws, and I really would have appreciated a little bit more help with what it all means. There must be a lot more to the story of where this film came from, and I’d love to find a book, or some background on why it’s like it is. But it was solid enough for me to recommend it if you’re able to get by the common faults that perturb people. IF you want to give it try, it is a truly old style artistic horror film, and worth the price.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog