Folk horror is an interesting subgenre in horror, and The Moor incorporates a few of those elements into a sorrowful story from Paul Thomas’ script which was directed by Chris Cronin, it has a slow-burn plot that builds on the bleakness of its surroundings and the vacant landscape creating a thick unknowing haunting atmosphere.

It starts in Yorkshire, 1996 with a cunning young Claire (Billie Suggett) who enlists her very reluctant friend Danny (Dexter Sol Ansell) to use subterfuge with the store manager while absconding with some candy temporary running into a man entering the store, his upper torso hidden from the viewer. However, the plan goes seriously astray when Danny never meets her in the alley as pre-planned, he in fact is left with that man. In a moment the swirl of chaos occurs with sorrow, anger, sadness all because of the foolish crime. We learn he is one of many children to go missing in recent times being what the media coined as ‘Summer of Fear’ a man was arrested by officer Thornley (Bernard Hill (Gothika [2003])) which led to one conviction not Danny as he and many others would go unfounded for lack of evidence, namely their corpses. The story takes a time-jump 25-years later Claire (Sophia La Porta (Censor [2021])) returns to this terrible moment in her past by the request of Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson), all as the criminal is set for his release, Bill wants his son back at any cost. His position is firmly understood, grim mindset a never-ending search except for one aspect, he never seems to be in Danny’s room, holding anything of a favorite toy, even a séance that occurs later in the second act is away from this; every story ever showing this heartache loss the parents keep the room intact, memorialized. This missing detail is a bit distracting for full immersion to the story. Claire who is now a podcaster but with a weak audience is using the opportunity to document the investigation a relaunch her hobby.

Bernard Hill

David Edward-Robertson

Another key aspect is the unresolved connection between these two the fate that caused them to suffer unbearable guilt and turmoil, that swells deeper in the vastness of the moors. They take various journeys with a local ranger Liz (Vicki Hackett) into the barren land in search of any clues hoping that secrets will not stay buried and psychological torture will have some sort of reprieve. Since their trip of hopeless Bill decides to open themselves and venture down the unearthly path supernatural abilities of Alex (Mark Peachey) who uses divining rods and his psychic daughter Eleanor (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips). They finally locate a series of mass graves of children and aided by the police forensic investigation with the help of the child murderer, though the moors take a challenging twist. The ending is sinister with a spiritual darkness that accepts the guilty and returns the innocent all in quirky conclusion.

Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips

There are two compelling good elements of the film, first the performances from Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips she gives the emotional conveyance to the viewer that what is happening on screen she truly believes is real. We all have seen characters performing the role, but she made it more believable by going through a wide range of emotions. The other positive aspect comes from Sam Cronin’s cinematography which capture the eeriness of the moors and yet shows the paranoia from Claire’s viewpoint from the shifting fog and how vast and lifeless it all is, it reminded one of The Hound of Baskervilles [1959]. The major letdown aside from Bill’s absence of personal objects belonging to his son, is the length there is quite a bit of padding it many scenes, and those dry moments to hurt the film.
This is very much a slow burn film that takes an excruciating amount of time to develop into a supernatural tale that is heavily layered with thick atmospheric that plunges to emotional turmoil and uses cues from the folk horror subgenre. However, the two hours does work into the negative and never generates any true jump scare or fear. I feel the movie is on a serious tone and falls more into dark drama, with the elements of supernatural not appearing until late in the second act and a mysterious horrific ending.

TAGLINE: Some things should stay in the dark.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14922882/

IMDb Rating: 6.1/10

Baron’s Rating: 5.5/10