Heavy in atmosphere yet lacking an engaging story to slog through it all, The Dreadful tries too hard to mimic other ominous folk-horror movies resulting in a visually arresting bore.
Exactly when did it get to the point where every folk-horror movie had to replicate an A24 film? While it is natural for a certain movie or filmmaker to set a trend that movie studios are eager to exploit, the whole “elevated folk-horror” craze is not only pretentious but its also boring. And dreary. Don’t forget dreary.
Case in point is (the aptly named) The Dreadful. Sophie Turner stars as Anne, a pious young widow who lives in near poverty in the outskirts of her village along with her mother-in-law Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden). When childhood friend Jago (Kit Harrington) returns from the same war where her husband was slain, a series of supernatural occurrences surrounding the appearance of a mysterious black knight brings an engulfing darkness leading to much bloodshed and mystery.
Directed and written by Natasha Kermani (Abrahams Boys), The Dreadful takes inspiration from the same Shin Buddhist parable that inspired the Japanese horror classic Onibaba. Such fleeting comparison, however, does not imply any standard of high quality for what Kermani delivers in her exploration of evil taking hold of a family during very dark times.
An overwrought use of symbology does little in establishing the stakes needed to invest in the fate of Anne who is caught in a tug of war between her increasingly unstable mother-in-law and her childhood friend-turned-lover who has his own dark burden. While the reunion of Game of Thrones stars Sophie Turner and Kit Harrington will draw interest, it is the wicked-good performance from Gay Harden this is the most memorable.
The real star of The Dreadful is cinematographer Julia Swain (The Wrath of Becky) who delivers striking gothic imagery that captures the suitable eeriness to the mist-engulfed woods and candle-lit cabins featured throughout the film. Composer Jamal Green (Take Cover) ominous tones lend itself well to the imagery yet can get repetitive.
It all results in a case of atmosphere and imagery engulfing character and story; a feature film that would have worked better as a short that, although not quite “dreadful”, veers dangerously close to it.
