Lord of Misrule

In 2023's Lord of Misrule we are introduced to a woman who moves to a small rural English village to take over the church. After the villagers celebrate the Winter Festival, her young daughter suddenly disappears and therefore her search for her missing daughter begins.

The movie is a pagan horror story with a suspenseful atmosphere and some mysterious characters. But sadly the movie mostly falls into some generic plot lines and has no outstanding strengths. There's not much special to talk about that the movie could use to separate itself from the masses. It is directed by William Brent Bell who directed quite a few horror movies before ranging from pretty good to pretty bad and I think this one just walks the line of being average. It's not terrible but also not great either and the movies biggest strength is probably the casting of Ralph Ineson as one of the villagers. However I did like the ending and therefore I overall don't regret watching this. [5,2/10]

Firstly, this 5.x rating is nonsense... Normally I try to be very even handed with reviews and not get too worked up, but in this case we honestly have a very, very good film that is extremely well made, well acted, and with a fantastic Folk Horror atmosphere, in my lowly and wretched opinion the best I've seen since the original 'WICKER MAN'

The reason why I feel so strongly about this movie is because it seems that we so rarely see such a well thought out, deeply intriguing Pagan/Folk Thriller without a bunch of heavy handed, over the top cruelty or violence. In this case, we have a very well crafted film that has TONS of genuine and creepy atmosphere which strongly lends itself to some good suspense and Mystery.

Yes, the story is a bit on the slower side than what is considered 'Horror' these days, almost a throwback to when these kinds of movies relied more on building a good, effective atmosphere with continuously tightening up the tension until a powerful ending. And, what I personally like about the ending, without of course spoiling anything, is that we have something that I feel is refreshing and unlike the usual cliched 'Sting' at the end, but still with a pretty strong surprise.

It is too bad that a lot of people come here and gave this excellent and well made film such low scores, simply because THEY just don't care for slower, more atmospheric, Folk Horror stories. It's like I've said many times before in my reviews... I personally hate sadistic movies that feature Torture Porn. But, it would be unfair for me to come here and rate all the movies like that poorly just because I personally do not like them. That would not help others who happen to like those kinds of movies in any way to know whether it is a 'Good' film or not, would it.

So, I refrain from doing that although I very much do not like those kinds of movies. It would be very nice if others would show the same respect for the types of films that they simply don't care for or find 'Boring' as many say here, and not deliberately lower the score for those of us who DO indeed really like this type of Horror. Thus my rare but I feel definitely earned '8' rating that I gave it.

If you don't like, slower, more atmospheric Folk Horror films, then please just give this one a pass and kindly don't ruin the score for those who do like them. BUT... if you do like these kinds of Folk Horror stories like the Iconic 'WICKER MAN' (original of course) then you should really enjoy this excellent, well made, and I feel quite effective Horror story.

Starts off with some promise but quickly outstays it's welcome. Ralph Ineson does a good job of playing brooding local Jocelyn Abney but the plot regarding the disappearance of a vicars daughter at a harvest festival thingy has nowhere particularly exciting to go.

Folk horror with its strange pagan symbols and odd country folk with their odd country ways, it's not actually that scary is it?, not in this movie anyway. And it starts to grate after a time.

It reminded me somewhat of a better and rather underrated movie called The Witches from 1966.

Word around the village is the daughter has been abducted by a harvest spirit called Gallawgog.

The mother of the child is played by Tuppence Middleton and she looks suitably anguished throughout and does a good job I thought.

To be honest this was a hard slog and i started to not particularly care what the outcome was. Young Evie Templeton puts in a good turn as the missing daughter, and maybe if your in to Folk Horror more than me you will enjoy it more.

I found it rather washed out and worse , unintentionally funny at times.

If you ever seen a horror movie, the chances are you know from the start where all this is going. And there will be no surprises.

So the main problem of this movie is the plot, its based on classic folklore stories and follows the path that so many movies (or even child stories) have shown before. Which might be good... but it does not exceed any expectation.

So some might call it a classic, some might call it a cliche. Either way, its not unique, its not new, even the creature - I saw it in dozen other movies, and I can name multiple where its simply executed better ("The Ritual", for example).

In other terms, it is mediocre. Characters are not very likable or believable. The motivation of the antagonist (for example) and his image - I believe they are severly lacking any originality or style, they are so superficial it hurts.

Ending is simply weak - culmination is unsatisfying. It is simple (which is good sometimes), but it ain't smart or fulfilling, or entertaining in this case.

So I'd say the score I've given in generous. It's a mediocre movie. Some might say its okay, some might say its bad, but there is no basis to call it great - that is for sure.

I see multiple ways this could've been a better movie (just add a single thing that isn't a trope), but it is obvious that nobody bothered here to create something new or unique, this is just same old same old once again.

It's not a perfect film, but it does a lot right and is worth your time if you like this type of thing.

In line with what I expected from the director - the story is going to be a rehash and not perfect, but certainly nothing offensively bad.

Casting, Directing, general pace is all fine... I notice a few other reviews complaining about the pace - absolutely nothing wrong with it, it's building tension and the general meh of rural life.

The writing, as others have pointed out, is a bit... well traditional Folk Horror... but where is there to go with it? If you've read a few Folk Horror books you'll notice the same things coming up: Harvests and sacrifices - often unwilling. So... complaining that a Folk Horror contains all the required Folk Horror tropes seems a bit odd to me (which seems to be the running trend here).

It leans heavily into Christianity vs The Old Ways, and treats Christianity with a rare respect - the Vicar is not a overtly double standard kiddie fiddler for once, they're a sympathetic character that you can get behind. Some clever steps here: make it CoE and make the Vicar female. Allows an awful lot of legwork to be done in your head.

Does it want to be The Wicker Man, well obviously.

Is it The Wicker Man, well... course not - but what is? You can't compare a Michellin Movie with a midrange offering - you'd be a fool.

The casting is superb, not only Middleton and Ineson, but the supporting cast as well - they carry the middling story a very long way.