El Páramo

The Moor isn't a bad movie but I see there are reviewers on here rating it with a ten and that's just ridiculous. A ten means it's one of the best movies you ever watched, one that you could watch over and over again, and sorry to say this one is far from that. It's a slow burner so do not expect fast action, but there is a nice mysterious vibe to it what keeps you interested. Unfortunately the ending is just not good at all which brings some serious damage to the ratings. The acting was good though, the cinematography simple but not bad. There are also some flaws in the story, bad decision making or annoying moments where they can't decide whether they would continue to investigate or not whilst they get serious clues, which in my opinion was just ridiculous. It's still worth watching if you don't mind a slow pace.

This is a film popped on to my radar thanks to Keir from Strike Media. I personally got confused at first, because I was invited to the screening in the theater. If I was in the United Kingdom, I would have gone. I was able to secure the screener to check out instead. Other than that, I just knew that this took place on a moor and was in the horror genre for 2024.

Synopsis: Claire (Sophia La Porta) is approached by the father of her missing childhood friend to help investigate the haunted moor he believes is his son's final resting place.

We start this in Yorkshire back in 1996. Claire (Billie Suggett) and her friend Danny (Dexter Sol Ansell) go to a local store. Claire wants Danny to create a diversion so she can steal candy. He is reluctant but does it. The plan is to meet in the alley out back. When she goes to flee, a man is in her way. She then goes to the rendezvous spot. Danny never comes out though. Claire takes a chance, goes back inside and asks about her friend. The shopkeeper says the man that came in was his father and took him home.

It is from here that this fills in the backstory through newspaper headlines. There were children disappearing and it put the area in fear. The time jumps 25 years. The man that was thought to be behind it was arrested. Claire is now an adult. Bill (David Edward-Robertson) seeks her out. He is the father of Danny. He still hasn't given up hope of finding out what happened. He asks if Claire will talk about it on her podcast. She tells him that she doesn't think it will help, but he convinces her that it will.

She also helps him by going to search the moor where he believes the boy disappeared. These are treacherous. They have a guide, Liz (Vicki Hackett). Bill is also seeking the aid of Alex (Mark Peachey). He uses divining crystals to decide where to search. Interestingly, Alex's daughter is more powerful with her psychic abilities. Bill goes behind her father's back to get her to help. Her name is Eleanor (Eliabeth Dormer-Phillips).

I'll also say here that Claire interviews different people, which helps fill in backstory as well. There is Ashad (Duggal Ram) and Becky (Mia Vore), who grew up in that era as well. They tell of their experiences. Thornley (Bernard Hill) is also interviewed. He seems like a local expert. He helped with the investigation. It is through him that the size of his moor is truly seen.

That alone would make things terrifying. There are supernatural elements in play and Bill will put the lives of this group at risk to find the truth of what happened to Danny.

I think that is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I'll start here by saying that this runs just shy of two hours. I left plot points due to not wanting to spoil things. What I'll say here though, I do think that there is a good amount that could be trimmed. This feels like someone's passion project and there were things that they didn't want to cut. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this. I just wanted to set this up.

Where I want to start is that I like how we build fear here. It starts with someone kidnapping children. This is every parent's nightmare. The use of newspaper headlines and hearing people tell their stories of that time was good. Something that adds to it is to show the mental state of Bill. He still struggles with what happened. This is something that would be extremely difficult to deal with. I'm not sure if I could move on without knowing what happened to my child. His determination borders on mania. I thought that Edward-Robetson was good at conveying this.

Then I want to shift over to our lead, Claire. She is interesting to me. I like this opening sequence when we go to the present time. Bill guilts her into doing podcast episodes about what happened that fateful day with Danny. He also wants her to recap their investigation to see if it opens new leads. This is a good set up, because she blames herself for what happened. She was able to move on after Bill let her know all those years ago that it wasn't her fault. That doesn't mean that he doesn't blame her or that she at least thinks that is the case. I like that she knows what Bill is doing is wrong. She should try to talk him out of it. She doesn't though and that affects people in the end. La Porta was also solid in her performance.

Something that I thought also worked is that we ground this story to start. It just seems like there was this psycho kidnapping children and killing them. There are people who've done this so we connect that. Claire first glimpses that Bill is working with Alex. This escalates when Ellie is brought into the picture. I'll be vague here, but there are archaeologists that come to this place because there are these stones on the moor that have neolithic carvings. It is also disorienting out there. It makes you wonder for a good stretch if it is supernatural before going there. That's where it gets creepy. I do appreciate incorporating in lore like this.

Let me then finish out with acting. I thought that Dormer-Phillips was good as this young psychic. Her father is shielding her, but she wants to help. She seems to be in control. That is until things get to be too much. This is something that adds to the atmosphere. I like Peachey as her father. He is between a rock and a hard place, which was good. I like Hill as this expert. The rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed to push our characters to where they end up.

All that is left then is filmmaking. What I'll say here is that the cinematography is good. I love how they shot and framed the moors. There's an added creepy factor with the fog. They are vast so you can easily get lost. Not to mention there are just ravines and bogs so if you're not careful, you can get stranded and hurt. I'd also say that the limited effects we get are fine for what was needed. There are a couple of sequences here. The sound design was also good. I did have a negative. This runs too long. My interest waned as it feels like there is too much filler. The ending is great and the atmosphere it builds is as well, but the tension was missing at times. I was confused as well from one thing that we saw and to how things play out don't line up for me, which is a bummer.

In conclusion, I do think that we get a solid film here. I like this idea of a serial killer taking children and how it is believed where he took them was this moor. That is a great setting. It is vast, treacherous and disorienting. I thought that the acting was solid. La Porta, Edward-Robertson and Dormer-Phillips leading the way. The rest of the cast push them to where they end up. The filmmaking is good with cinematography, framing and sound design. I like what they did with the effects. The problem was that this ran too long and I lost interest at times. I think if trimming this to an hour and half, it runs smoother for sure. I'd still say give this one a watch if you want a dark, brooding slow burn with an interesting ending.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

They were so close to making a really enjoyable film, however, there are few things about this movie that are not good, here they are some examples:

• There was so much potential with landscape horror but it was never delivered, even though they clearly tried. The continues upshot of the landscape is not gonna do something on its own. They did that for what feels like 10 times during this movie as if I am supposed to feel anything, I didn't.

• The characters are not likable, in some movies this is no issue, but in this movie it feels not intentional. It feels like the writers didn't put enough attention to the characters.

• The jumpscares are pathetic. I try not to use dramatic wording while trying to review something but this is a crime that the director did. Blasting noise out of nowhere every 15 minutes is not how you do good horror. At some point the audio clips during a jumpscare which threw me right off as well.

I am so sad for this movie, I wish people would put a little more hard work and time. Especially when they are clearly creative and have a great concept on hand but oh well...

"Out there, we are all lost." Where exactly, you wonder? Why, that'd be on the moors, a place surrounded in fog, myths, and loss. With Chris Cronin's feature-length directorial debut, these mysterious lands take center stage as a grieving father and haunted podcaster search for answers and closure.

The results? Very mixed, but I'm confident Mr. Cronin has a solid career ahead of him. THE MOOR features a wonderful sense of atmosphere and benefits greatly from cinematographer Sam Cronin's depiction of the moody and aforementioned moors.

There are some fun frights to be had here too (a scene in a gully stands out as a highlight), but unless one is a rabid horror fan chomping at the bit for anything new, this one is hard to recommend with much enthusiasm. The film consistently cuts away to documentary-style interviews which, while helpful in the exposition camp, feel tonally and visually out of place with the rest of the film. Similarly, the "true ending" of the film feels incredibly jarring (you'll know what I mean if you watch it). I'm not sure if that was simply by design or if some scenes had to be cut due to budget restraints, but in the end it ultimately weakens the film's overall impact. That overall feeling isn't helped much by our lead "Claire" who is an wildly boring protagonist or the variety of moments where she and other characters fail to react to something cray cray in a realistic way. I've never seen a floating tent before...have you?

Still, there is some good stuff here for those who seek it; Elizabeth Dormer-Phillip in particular is a standout as "Eleanor," who not only breathes life into the film but gives it some much needed heart as well. Definitely a talent to watch. Whether or not the same could be said of Mr. Cronin by viewers after watching this debut, I ultimately believe will vary amongst genre fans. I, however, am curious to see what he does next.

Go get 'em, Chris.

RANDOM PRAISE +

• I will never tire of an ominous-looking animal or statue.

RANDOM CRITIQUE -

• If a woman has a panic attack while hiking across the moors and starts losing it, maybe-I don't know, check in on her? Just a thought.

TAKEAWAY ?

• The likelihood of getting kidnapped while shoplifting are low but NEVER zero.

It's Yorkshire in the 90s. It says so on the screen, but the accents and streets give it away. It's a gripping start as a young boy goes missing in a corner shop. I've got instant chills as the jumps and bumps sync with some lovely camera work. As the titles roll, so do the 'missing' headlines, multiple children, a "Summer of Fear". 25 years later. Desolate windswept moors, ominous church bells, quiet streets. In a cafe, Claire (Sophia La Porta) now grown up, is trying to move on from her guilt over what happened to her friend Danny (Dexter Sol Ansell). But the child killer that's suspected took him, is facing release after a botched investigation and Danny's father, Bill (David Edward-Robertson) wants Claire to help him stop it, by finding evidence on The Moor. It plays to a genuine chilling fear. Missing children. Never found. Thought now to be on the moors. No closure. If you're a certain age in Britain, you'll recall the Moors Murders, a horror story that played out in real time. This is why the first act of this hits so hard. When Claire realises the scale of the possible search area, it's unfathomable and even stranger that Bill has deemed now to only search a specific region. There's more to this than first meets the eye. Enter Alex (Mark Peachy) who's helping Bill make these choices based on something beyond. The shots on the moors are fantastic, wide open, the camera laps up the brutal landscape, but as Claire goes searching with Bill and a ranger called Liz (Vicki Hackett), it's her GoPro footage that gets the heart pumping. This first person shot puts you right in the heart of it and gives a real sense of just how dangerous this terrain is in its own right, before adding any sinister layers. We also get interview clips with locals that fill in not only what happened in the Summer of Fear, but how they all feel about its legacy. It's here we meet Thornley (Bernard Hill) and Becky (Mia Vore) a child at the time when Danny went missing. These scenes fill in the space wonderfully and give it real weight. It's Claire's perspective that brings the chills though and it is chilling, terrifyingly so. There's something supernatural at play and this is where Alex and his daughter Eleanor (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips) come in. They help pinpoint a spot thought to be where Danny is, but it's deep into the moor. Things are going to get dark, very very dark. Honestly I'm going to struggle to sleep tonight. It all starts to take a toll on Claire too. They make some progress, but this only digs them further into the nightmare. The spooky stuff is very effective, but mix it with that natural eeriness of the landscape and the real life horror of missing children and you've got a stone cold thriller. The acting across the board is punchy and powerful, the score is wild and scrungy, the production reaches way beyond its budget. It looks fantastic and it's perfectly paced and really keeps you on your toes. This may well have ruined any future wild camping trips I had planned, it's just as well we're heading in to winter, I need a good six months before I think about spending the night alone in a tent in the middle of nowhere. This is director Chris Cronin's feature length debut. It's a hell of a start.