The Moor

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.

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.

I'm usually let down by modern horror, but The Moor had me hooked from the start. It's creepy, thoughtful, beautifully shot, and way smarter than most of what's out there. The performances are solid across the board, the mood is tense without relying on cheap jumps, and the folklore elements feel grounded and original.

But just when I thought we were heading for a haunting, earned payoff...it pivots. One BAFFLING creative choice near the end nearly derails the whole thing. Not enough to ruin it, but enough to knock it down a peg or two.

Still, 90% of this movie is genuinely excellent. If they'd just trusted the story they were already telling, it could've been a classic.

I really don't understand the bad ratings. I guess people nowadays are used to fast paced and commercially accessible monster/exorcism flicks with no depth. And believe me, I did watch The First Omen and Immaculate. While the first one mentioned was still watchable, the second one here is an utter disgrace.

In comparison The Moor is just one of those Indie Horror gems you cannot miss, especially if you have no problems with slow story telling opposed to the mentioned mainstream movies.

The images and scenery are scary in the first place already, although you do have some of the usual scares here and there which I somehow felt that they didn't feel forced.

The no name actors are all doing a very decent job especially the 2 females and the creepy soundtrack itself is simply phenomenal.

Still trying to make sense of some of the scenes, but the almost constantly tense atmosphere kept me on my toes!

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...