JP Nunez
I’m not going to lie. I didn’t go into The Moor with exceptionally high expectations. I didn’t think the film would be bad, but I wasn’t expecting to love it nearly as much as I did. The plot synopsis sounded fairly standard, so I figured it would be a fun little supernatural horror flick. But I was so wrong, and I couldn’t be happier. At the time of this writing, The Moor is the best movie I’ve seen at FrightFest this year, and while that might change in the next week or so (I still have a few more screeners to get through), I’d be surprised if it did.
Chris Cronin directed the Moor, which stars Sophia La Porta, David Edward Robertson, Bernard Hill, Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips, Mark Peachey, and Vicki Hackett. Twenty-five years ago, there was a rash of child abductions and murders, during which a little boy named Danny was taken. The guy who committed these heinous crimes was eventually caught and put in prison, but even after two and a half decades, Danny’s father still wants closure.
In the present day, he wants to find his son’s final resting place, so he sets out into the titular Moor with Danny’s best friend Claire, now a grown woman, and a psychic named Eleanor. When they arrive, they find the ghosts of the murdered children, and they also encounter a dark presence that’s much more sinister than they ever could’ve imagined.
If you think The Moor sounds generic, I can’t say I’m surprised. Like I said, I initially thought that too. But trust me, there’s actually a lot more to this film than what the plot synopsis reveals, hiding unexpected twists and turns. It’s so much more than just a run-of-the-mill “evil spirit in the wild” flick. In fact, I’d even say the story is one of the best things about this movie.
I went into it knowing only what I’ve just told you, and seeing the plot unfold before my eyes was one of the big reasons why I loved it so much. It kept me on my toes almost the entire time, and I found myself unable to look away from the screen as I anxiously waited to find out what would happen next.
On top of that, The Moor also features a whole bunch of outstanding performances. Everybody in this film is excellent, and I’m not just talking about the leads. Even the side characters who don’t get much screen time are played super well, and when a few new faces join the mix around the midway point, they’re welcome additions.
In particular, I have to give a special mention to Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips. She plays Eleanor, the psychic who helps Bill and Claire look for Danny, and she probably has the most challenging job in this entire cast. As a psychic, her character is affected by the supernatural goings-on more than anybody else in the movie. Thus, she has to convey a wide range of emotions and affectations. Sometimes, she’s creepy. Other times, she’s terrified. There’s even a scene where she appears to be possessed, and she absolutely nails it every single time. This young woman is simply fantastic, so I hope to see her in future horror projects.
Finally, let’s talk about the horror in The Moor. Pretty much right from the get-go, this movie is super atmospheric, so even when nothing particularly terrifying is happening, you often get the feeling that a heartbreaking turn of events is just around the corner. That atmosphere does a fantastic job of setting the stage for the scares to come, and when they hit, the film gets even better.
Director Chris Cronin has a keen eye for building tension and unleashing it in the best way possible, with three pivotal scenes that showcase this talent incredibly well. I don’t want to spoil these moments, so I’ll just say that two of them involve the characters sitting around a table in Bill’s house, and one of them takes place in the moor as Eleanor talks with one of the ghosts there.
If you watch the movie, you’ll know exactly what scenes I’m talking about and be on the edge of your seat the whole time. They’re absolute masterclasses in horror filmmaking, so for my money, they’re worth the price of admission all by themselves.
I don’t have any significant negative criticisms of The Moor, though one thing bothered me a little. Every once in a while, the movie switches to a found-footage style, which didn’t work for me. I never felt like those moments needed to be found footage, so the shifts back and forth felt weird and took me out of the film momentarily. To be fair, my reaction to those scenes could just be because I’m not the biggest fan of found footage. I don’t have anything against the style, and there are several found-footage movies I adore. But aside from a couple of exceptions, I don’t think it usually adds much to the viewing experience, so when it’s used intermittently, like in The Moor, it’s more jarring than anything else.
Yet, in the grand scheme of The Moor, my qualms amount to little more than a minor annoyance. At the end of the day, the positives of this film vastly outweigh the negatives. The great characters, excellent story, and terrific scares make The Moor the best movie I’ve seen so far at FrightFest, so if you get a chance to watch it when it gets a general release, I highly, highly recommend that you check it out.
The Moor had its world premiere at FrightFest on August 26.
