In the aftermath of a personal tragedy, Harper retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping to find a place to heal. But someone — or something — from the surrounding woods appears to be stalking her, and what begins as simmering dread becomes a fully-formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears.
- Released: 2022-05-20
- Runtime: 100 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
- Stars: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin, Sarah Twomey, Zak Rothera-Oxley, Sonoya Mizuno
- Director: Alex Garland
Comments
- henry8-3 - 9 January 2023
Men
After experiencing an appalling occurrence when her partner dies, Jesse Buckley hires a beautiful country cottage to give her time to come to terms with the tragedy which she in part holds herself responsible for. There she meets a number of strange locals, including a battered, naked man who seems to be stalking her, who all look like Rory Kinnear.
This starts off very nicely with a mystery surrounding Jesse Buckley's partner's death and then a sense of foreboding in the woods as she goes for her first walk in the country - the best scene in the film. This all suggests a spooky folk horror going forward. Where it goes though is far more complicated, rather confusing and ultimately unsatisfying. It would seem that the various men that Buckley comes across, may or may not represent all men including her ex partner and their views and often violent interactions with Buckley are all part of her healing process. I'm not really sure but that is how I took it and whilst Buckley and Kinnear both give terrific performances, in the end it turns into a rather bewildering body horror type mess, literally and metaphorically. Nice idea with good actors then - just doesn't quite manage to pull it all off.
