Lord of Misrule
It got better at the end but was kinda crappy there for a while.
Plot
In Lord of Misrule, we see how one person’s fun folk festival can really be another’s stuff of nightmares.
The film revolves around Vicar Rebecca Holland (Tuppence Middleton). After moving to a new home in the English village of Barrow 10 months ago, Rebecca is working hard to balance both attending to her new congregation and care of her family. She and her husband, Henry (Matt Stokoe), have both “settled” into their new home, but they are worried about their daughter, Grace (Evie Templeton). Grace has had a hard time fitting in so far, and it’s hinted that she didn’t want to move in the first place. This could be changing soon though as Grace has been invited to play the Harvest Angel in Barrow’s yearly harvest festival. The family doesn’t know much about the town’s folklore, but they are fine with Grace embracing it and hanging all types of pagan Blair Witch style symbols around her room. Let’s face it, that’s a little weird for a priest to embrace.
The festival proceeds and everyone is having a great time until later that night when Rebecca realizes Grace has gone missing. She see’s Grace’s friend Bryony (Alexa Goodall) staring into a large bonfire looking distraught but when she questions her, all Bryony will say is, “Grace is away now.” Spooky. Rebecca frantically looks for Grace and sees her in the distance in the woods. She follows her a little way but is distracted by stuff hanging in the trees then falls and loses track of where Grace has gone off to.
What follows is a slow burning story about Rebecca’s mission to find her daughter as the very town seems to be working against her. It’s almost as if… they’re in on it.
My Thoughts
Lord of Misrule was okayish, but it could have been much better. I was really frustrated about how Rebecca seemed so blank in a lot of her scenes. Her reactions seemed insincere. I feel like a parent whose child has been kidnapped would portray more panic and emotion. Even when Grace had first gone missing and Rebecca followed her into the forest and saw her in the distance walking away with some man, she just called to her weakly a few times and then stopped to examine some stuff dangling from a tree. I mean come on. I feel like in that situation there should be more screaming and running. Or at least don’t get sidetracked by tree decorations. There are also so many scenes where something weird is happening and she just kind of stands there and ignores it.
Henry also seemed so nonchalant about the whole thing. I had a suspicion for the longest time that he was in on it somehow. I was wondering if maybe he secretly originated from Barrow and had brought his family back because of that. Honestly, I think that might have been a better backstory for him.
Grace was also nearly impossible to form an emotional connection to because she was so damn creepy. Like WTF was that with Bunbun at the beginning of the movie??
(SPOILER INCOMING)
The lore of the town was mentioned throughout the movie, but I was kinda salty that I had to wait for the END CREDITS in a SONG for it to be best explained. It makes a lot more sense for everyone’s first born to be sacrificed instead of just every year they pick out a random child like I was wondering. But then shouldn’t everyone understand the pain Rebecca and her husband are going through and not just Jocelyn Abney (Ralph Ineson) as was implied by a villager?
(SPOILER OVER)
One thing the movie did really well was the music though. Okay, so the first song was really weird, but the other ones were great. They added to the folk theme of the movie, and I loved how in the credits there was a song about Barrow’s lore.
So, if you’re in the mood to watch a horror movie about creepy town lore and a girl that goes missing, check out Lord of Misrule, now streaming on Hulu!
Pop some popcorn, get comfy, and let me know what you thought about it!
