Lord of Misrule (2023)
"He stands in the fields and waits"
Tuppence Middleton plays a new priest in an English village bathed in folklore whose daughter goes missing during the harvest festival. A desperate search begins, uncovering the areas dark history of ritual and sacrifice.
Despite director William Brent Bell's film being nothing particularly new - The first half being strikingly similar to the BBC mini series
Mayday (2013) and the second half echoing that Scottish set film with the burning effigy that i can't recall the name of -
Lord of Misrule is still a very good folk horror movie.
A slow burn thriller with a deliciously creepy atmosphere that gradually envelops then really takes hold thanks to an eerie soundtrack that constantly invades the speakers (Think
Heilung mixed with strange ambient sounds) including a couple of genuine jump out of your seat moments from the rear speakers in a surround sound set up, to the woods full of haunting totems hanging from the branches to nightmarish glimpses of a dark manifestation throughout the film.
The paranoia escalates to the point of stifling the viewer come the final forty minutes which became slightly unbearable as you know something terrible is in store, but what exactly? I was genuinely tense to the point of becoming restless with anxiety. It's all so wonderfully macabre as ancient myth takes control over the modern day.
Tuppence Middleton is excellent (She usually is) as the priest (Not Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins sadly) as is Ralph Ineson who plays the Lord of Misrule of the title in the village's Pagan ceremonies who takes the pageantry all too seriously in real life.
Lord of Misrule isn't a perfect film but is a far better than expected slice of modern day folk horror which takes in the classic tropes of harvest festivals, sacrifice and something in the fields watching,waiting until the time is right.
Oh, and the English countryside looks gorgeous on Blu-ray.
I'm pleased i took a chance in buying this.