This is a film that I learned about through podcasts. Now I missed this one when it came out back in 2023. I feel like I heard about it late in the year and didn't get time to see it. I've now given it a watch as selected by the randomizer for my New Year, New Movie segment on Journey with a Cinephile.
Synopsis: a man descends into madness as he tries to investigate an apocalyptic cult that caused the death of his friend.
We get a story that is told in four parts. It starts with the credits and seeing flashes of a ritual where masked people have a giant bonfire and they're carving someone who is tied up. We then meet our lead, Chris Rivers (Rory Wilson). He's to come to Wales to see what happened to his friend, William Duffy (Leuan Coombs). He went by Billy. Chris feels guilty since he didn't answer his friends calls and it seems like he killed himself.
A major issue here is that Chris left without telling anyone. His wife is pregnant with their first child and she is due soon. Chris is a teacher and my guess at a college. The dean is concerned. His friend there calls him to see what he's doing, but Chris can't give a good answer. He must figure out what happened to Billy.
Now it seems that his friend was researching this phenomenon of primordial fear. This is the terror of the universe being too vast and how insignificant we are. It is crippling and causing people to descend into madness. What Billy's team discovered is that all over the world there are people who have embraced this. They all speak of a deity called the origin. This is Lovecraftian in nature and in line with the Cthulhu mythos, where there are sects who have never met but worship the same deities and relay the same information.
This makes Chris uncomfortable and even more so that he starts to see a hooded figure watching him from outside of his cabin. More strange things happen and Chris calls the police, trying to catch this stranger. The officer doesn't believe him though. It doesn't help that he has nightmares that are matching drawings that Billy has in his research. He sees them before finding those documents in what was left. Chris worries that he could meet a fate similar to his friends, but it could be too late to escape now.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start is crediting the set up that we get. This doesn't waste any time getting our lead, Chris, to this cabin and looking into what Billy left for him. Then odd things start to happen like this person who is watching him or the lead having nightmares. Now if you know me, this is a troupe that I think is overused. I am forgiving here though, because we see him looking at parts of the physical copies, he then has nightmares of things. He will then find documentation matching it that he hadn't seen yet. There is something quite eerie about that and it kept me interested.
Sticking in line with this, I love incorporating this idea of cosmic indifference. There is an interesting thread here that most when experiencing this will either find a way to cope or it will drive them insane. There are then these others that embrace it, wanting to wake up the origin and that feels like it falls in line with the Cthulhu mythos. When Chris starts to hear this dark entity talking to him, whether it is the origin itself or a disciple we don't know, he starts to have black outs. It could also be his own psyche breaking. It looks like he does things without realizing it. The entity also wants him to 'open a door', which if he does, that is opening himself up to this. I love this dark idea and not knowing what we can trust.
Now there's another aspect here to the story I want to explore. Chris feels guilty for not hearing or helping his friend. He calls Billy's mother to apologize. There's another angle here to learn more about what happened as well. Then there is Karen, Chris' wife, who is upset with him for just leaving. She is pregnant with their son. That boy is supposed to be born in a couple weeks, but she could go into labor early. That's even more possible with the stress she is feeling. I love using this to build tension. This ramps up even more when he goes to leave, can't and then starts to hear what happened because of it through voices he's talked to over the phone. It makes you wonder what is real or what this entity is doing to drive him to despair. I did appreciate that.
I then want to shift over to filmmaking next. I'll credit the cinematography and framing first. They capture how remote this cabin is well. Part of it is how dark it gets at night. This is in the Welsh countryside. There isn't much light pollution so it gets truly dark at night. There's a great shot from above to convey this that I noted. It gets even scarier when he goes into the woods at night. I'll also say here that we don't get much in the way of effects. This is more psychological though so we don't need them. There are great things in these nightmares though. What is good there is I'm guessing it is CGI. We are seeing it at a distance so that helps it look better. I'll say that the sound design helps with the atmosphere. The voices of this entity are creepy. The soundtrack also helps here as well. My biggest gripe is just that I don't think the payoff and the route they go fits to what we were building toward in the beginning. It does have a good heart though, so I'll give it credit there.
All that is left then is acting. I thought that Wilson was good as our lead. He does well at bringing Chris to life in that I feel him being pulled back to his life while also wanting to honor his friend by proving his research correct as well as clearing his name. The voices that speak to Chris over the phone help build tension that his life could fall apart if he doesn't hurry. Coombs was good as Billy. We mostly see him through flashbacks and videos he made. Those help build the story, especially in the set up. I'd say other than that, the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, I thought that this did good things with building a cosmic horror story and borrowing Lovecraftian elements. It does well with the budget that it is working with in building that atmosphere through the isolation of this cabin and Chris. His acting was good and I thought the rest of the cast pushed him to where it ended up. The cinematography, framing, effects and sound design were also good. This is made well enough. My only issue is that I don't know if the payoff we got fit what was set up. I still thought this was worth a watch, especially to those that are into this subgenre.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Synopsis: a man descends into madness as he tries to investigate an apocalyptic cult that caused the death of his friend.
We get a story that is told in four parts. It starts with the credits and seeing flashes of a ritual where masked people have a giant bonfire and they're carving someone who is tied up. We then meet our lead, Chris Rivers (Rory Wilson). He's to come to Wales to see what happened to his friend, William Duffy (Leuan Coombs). He went by Billy. Chris feels guilty since he didn't answer his friends calls and it seems like he killed himself.
A major issue here is that Chris left without telling anyone. His wife is pregnant with their first child and she is due soon. Chris is a teacher and my guess at a college. The dean is concerned. His friend there calls him to see what he's doing, but Chris can't give a good answer. He must figure out what happened to Billy.
Now it seems that his friend was researching this phenomenon of primordial fear. This is the terror of the universe being too vast and how insignificant we are. It is crippling and causing people to descend into madness. What Billy's team discovered is that all over the world there are people who have embraced this. They all speak of a deity called the origin. This is Lovecraftian in nature and in line with the Cthulhu mythos, where there are sects who have never met but worship the same deities and relay the same information.
This makes Chris uncomfortable and even more so that he starts to see a hooded figure watching him from outside of his cabin. More strange things happen and Chris calls the police, trying to catch this stranger. The officer doesn't believe him though. It doesn't help that he has nightmares that are matching drawings that Billy has in his research. He sees them before finding those documents in what was left. Chris worries that he could meet a fate similar to his friends, but it could be too late to escape now.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start is crediting the set up that we get. This doesn't waste any time getting our lead, Chris, to this cabin and looking into what Billy left for him. Then odd things start to happen like this person who is watching him or the lead having nightmares. Now if you know me, this is a troupe that I think is overused. I am forgiving here though, because we see him looking at parts of the physical copies, he then has nightmares of things. He will then find documentation matching it that he hadn't seen yet. There is something quite eerie about that and it kept me interested.
Sticking in line with this, I love incorporating this idea of cosmic indifference. There is an interesting thread here that most when experiencing this will either find a way to cope or it will drive them insane. There are then these others that embrace it, wanting to wake up the origin and that feels like it falls in line with the Cthulhu mythos. When Chris starts to hear this dark entity talking to him, whether it is the origin itself or a disciple we don't know, he starts to have black outs. It could also be his own psyche breaking. It looks like he does things without realizing it. The entity also wants him to 'open a door', which if he does, that is opening himself up to this. I love this dark idea and not knowing what we can trust.
Now there's another aspect here to the story I want to explore. Chris feels guilty for not hearing or helping his friend. He calls Billy's mother to apologize. There's another angle here to learn more about what happened as well. Then there is Karen, Chris' wife, who is upset with him for just leaving. She is pregnant with their son. That boy is supposed to be born in a couple weeks, but she could go into labor early. That's even more possible with the stress she is feeling. I love using this to build tension. This ramps up even more when he goes to leave, can't and then starts to hear what happened because of it through voices he's talked to over the phone. It makes you wonder what is real or what this entity is doing to drive him to despair. I did appreciate that.
I then want to shift over to filmmaking next. I'll credit the cinematography and framing first. They capture how remote this cabin is well. Part of it is how dark it gets at night. This is in the Welsh countryside. There isn't much light pollution so it gets truly dark at night. There's a great shot from above to convey this that I noted. It gets even scarier when he goes into the woods at night. I'll also say here that we don't get much in the way of effects. This is more psychological though so we don't need them. There are great things in these nightmares though. What is good there is I'm guessing it is CGI. We are seeing it at a distance so that helps it look better. I'll say that the sound design helps with the atmosphere. The voices of this entity are creepy. The soundtrack also helps here as well. My biggest gripe is just that I don't think the payoff and the route they go fits to what we were building toward in the beginning. It does have a good heart though, so I'll give it credit there.
All that is left then is acting. I thought that Wilson was good as our lead. He does well at bringing Chris to life in that I feel him being pulled back to his life while also wanting to honor his friend by proving his research correct as well as clearing his name. The voices that speak to Chris over the phone help build tension that his life could fall apart if he doesn't hurry. Coombs was good as Billy. We mostly see him through flashbacks and videos he made. Those help build the story, especially in the set up. I'd say other than that, the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, I thought that this did good things with building a cosmic horror story and borrowing Lovecraftian elements. It does well with the budget that it is working with in building that atmosphere through the isolation of this cabin and Chris. His acting was good and I thought the rest of the cast pushed him to where it ended up. The cinematography, framing, effects and sound design were also good. This is made well enough. My only issue is that I don't know if the payoff we got fit what was set up. I still thought this was worth a watch, especially to those that are into this subgenre.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.