The Moor
Review by PS King
Yorkshire, 1996. Claire and Danny are children stealing sweets from a corner shop. While Claire is out of the shop, a stranger nabs Danny. Twenty-five years later, Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson) is still obsessed with finding his son, whose body he’s convinced is buried on the nearby moor, along with several other children that went missing around the same time. Claire (Sophia La Porta) has a podcast and Bill wants her to come out to the moor with him and report on his findings, which she’s reluctant to do. Finally, she decides to accompany him. With the help of a slightly psychic man and his very psychic daughter, they go further and further into a strange labyrinth of supernatural horror.
Director Chris Cronin is a master of mood. Though the plot is relatively simple, atmosphere and psychology are the main focus here. The Moor has a meditative pace that makes the psychological unraveling of the characters slow and impactful. The movie starts with no supernatural elements, but by the time we reach the last thirty minutes, it’s a full-on supernatural horror. The Moor is a two-hour film, and it takes a while for the traditional horror elements to kick in, but that doesn’t really matter. The point is to explore the moor with the characters. You can feel the expansiveness, the desolation, the undercurrent of violence in the place with every step that they take into its dangerous terrain.
Point of view is very important here, and that’s why there’s multiple types of cameras used. At various times we switch from a traditional cinematic POV and watch documentary interviews that Claire has shot. At others we cut to footage from a body cam that Claire wears during her trips to the Moor, which gives the movie a found footage feel at times. This is used most effectively at the end, when the found footage POV is the most visceral.
The Moor explores the idea of possession in a variety of interesting ways. Bill is possessed. Perhaps in a supernatural way, perhaps not. But his obsession with finding his son possesses him until it completely takes over as his psyche becomes increasingly unwound. In contrast to Bill’s possession, though, there is another character who is definitely supernaturally possessed, and we eventually learn which of these possessions is more dangerous.
Similarly, the movie asks whether a piece of land can be possessed. There’s an unspoken terror that surrounds the characters, even when there’s no supernatural stuff happening. And Claire definitely has some connection to the land that’s psychically not quite normal. At one point Claire asks, “How can a place want anything?” and this is the question we’re supposed to ask as an audience. How can a place be a thing that actively desires something? And why children? The mythology that Thomas and Cronin establish around the moor is fascinating, and well thought out.
The movie eases us into the supernatural elements and therefore eases us into the horror genre. But the last thirty minutes are quite chilling. The final moments actually frightened me a bit, and I’m a jaded film journalist who has seen just about everything the horror genre has on offer.
The Moor is a moving tale of obsession and possession. It’s a welcome new folk horror that’s well worth the small amount of patience it requires of its audience.
Pat King has had short stories, essays, and a novel published in various places online and in print. As P.S. King, he’s had two short film scripts produced. He’s also directed a handful of short documentaries and experimental films. Pat writes or has written film reviews and interviews for Dread Central, Brainwavestalk.com, The Daily Grindhouse, CC2Konline.com, TheRetroSet.com, Battleroyalewithcheese.com and Mugwumpcorporation.com. He is a former film section editor at Cultured Vultures.
HorrorAddicts.net 