A slow-burn folk horror tale is wrapped in the cold reality of a child killer and their connection to a seemingly haunted moor in Chris Cronin’s The Moor.
Cronin utilizes some found footage tools in a more traditional horror construct, adding believability to something that grows increasingly supernatural. The film is peppered with accounts of those nefarious events in ”The Summer of Fear”. From those involved in it directly to those who lived during it. It clearly taps into some very real and horrendous things that dominated British newspapers during the time. Unnervingly, this almost feels like it could be based on some true story from those opening moments.
The tone is set quickly with a trip back to mid-90s England as two kids conspire to steal some sweets from a local shop. The girl, Claire, sends her young friend Danny (Dexter Sol Ansell)in as a distraction, but she never sees him again. It’s thought that the young boy is the victim of a serial child killer. That killer is later apprehended, but many of the bodies of his supposed victims were never found, including Danny’s.
Now, 25 years later, Claire (Sophia La Porta) is approached by Danny’s father, Bill (David Edward-Robertson), hoping to find Danny’s body. Why now? Well, the killer is about to get out of prison, and all things point to the missing being somewhere on the moors. If they can find Danny, they can put his killer back in prison.
But the moors are deceptively large, and nothing has been found for years. But Bill has discovered a way to pinpoint perhaps the area the killer operated in. It’s a decision that will show why there’s more to fear about the moor than the bodies it may hide.
The Moor Review: A Dangerous Place
For a film drenched in grey misery, The Moor is bleakly beautiful. The oppressive atmosphere soaks into the skin much like the moisture-heavy air does into the characters.
Perhaps the most interesting thing The Moor does is with that titular space. So many countryside and wilderness horror movies rely on enclosed spaces, tall trees, and undergrowth that swallow those caught in it and hide the sheer scope and size of the environment.
The Moor’s moor is an open, expansive place, but unseen drops and dangerous peat bogs hide very real dangers. Often, there’s talk of restrictions on searching there. A guide is required, and planning how and when to be out there is incredibly necessary. In the light of day, it’s a place of breathtaking beauty, but as darkness and bad weather creep in, it’s as volatile as any cursed woodland.
The Moor trailer
That naturally unnerving aspect of the moor is suitably backed by a splash of folk horror. It is not entirely laid out, but the connection feels clear enough. Just enough questions are left on the table, and like any good folk or cosmic horror tale, the ambiguity sells what’s unsettling about it.
A common criticism of popular modern horror is how it often tries to explain away otherworldly forces as a sit-in for some trauma. The real criticism is that many don’t subtly know how to make that connection. There’s a need to give both aspects the space they need to breathe and grow organically. The Moor largely achieves that synergy. It’s got a clear distinction between the unresolved grief and guilt at the heart of Bill and Claire’s story and the ominous foreboding nature of the moor. Yet it subtly connects the two. Leaving it open to some interpretation without dipping out of an actual folk horror groove.
But the horror doesn’t click without those two lead performances. David Edward-Robertson is excellent as the grief-stricken and obsessive Bill. Sophia La Porta puts in an understated shift as the traumatized and guilt-ridden Claire. The dynamic between these two leads to a path of mutual destruction. Claire’s guilt enables and indulges Bill’s obsession and white-hot belief in fresh justice, which ultimately drags both deeper into something far beyond them.
The rest of the cast pitch in with complementary roles. The late Bernard Hill is used sparingly, but his former detective really sells the horrors of the unnamed and unseen killer in his recounting of the Summer of Fear. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips’s gifted young woman acts as the connective tissue between the grim reality and the supernatural.
The Moor Review: The Unseen Terror
The killer’s omnipresence is felt throughout. His name is never mentioned, his face never seen, but the monstrous, sickening horror of what he’s done hangs in the air during every scene. A vague, blurry glimpse is all we see of him. Yet the weight of everything we know about him to that point makes it a strong, if fleeting, moment.
If there’s a weakness, it’s during a prolonged and slightly surreal campout on the moor. Something about the performances felt off in relation to what’s going on, and I’m still unsure if that was meant to be a deliberate choice and, if so, why that is. Yet even there, it’s a scene filled with unease and dread otherwise.
There’s an inevitability of sorts to the conclusion, but it’s that good rollercoaster kind of anticipation. You know the drop is coming, and you sort of dread where it will take you, but you’re strapped in and compelled to go through it.
The Moor is an impressively atmospheric feature-length debut from Chris Cronin that features well-written characters by Paul Thomas. Don’t let the grey open expanse of the moors deceive you. There’s far more going on than what first appears on the surface.
SCORE: 8/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 8 equates to “Great.” While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact.
The Moor screener was provided for review.
The Moor will be released in select UK theaters on June 14, 2024, and digitally on July 1, 2024. A US release is currently unknown.
