Day: 29 Film: Lore
Type: Anthology
Country: UK Year: 2023
Writers: Patrick Michael Ryder, Christine Barber-Ryder, James Bushe
Directors: James Bushe, Patrick Michael Ryder, Greig Johnson
Rating: 9 / 10
When a group of friends sign up to an immersive spooky experience in the woods, they’re ready for an evening of eerie stories and unsettling encounters with their creepy host Darwin (Richard Brake). Sat around a campfire, they take it turns to recount their scariest stories as an offering to the dead – without realising the consequences this could bring.
Anthology horrors often fall into the trap of cramming together a bunch of mismatched shorts with a thin thread linking them together but failing to provide any sort of structure or foundation beyond that. Lore is not only an impeccable horror film, but it is one of the (if not the) best anthology style horrors we’ve ever seen! The overarching storyline of traditional campsite tales, is almost similar to ‘Are You Afraid Of The Dark?’ (my absolute favourite TV show as a child!), it’s a simplistic structure that sets up each short story perfectly. Although you don’t have much backstory for the four friends – they’re a likeable group of people, quickly establishing their humour and mannerisms enough to embed them into the wider plot.
The first tale is ‘Shadows’ featuring a man on the run from two ‘heavies’, sneaking into an abandoned building in an attempt to escape them. As he hides, he notices that he might not be alone – and whatever is lurking in the background, might be worse than the thing he’s running from in the first place. This is a strong start, and sets a great tone for the following stories. There is the perfect amount of suspense, and the effects are done well, avoiding cheesy cliches and instead creating a unique storyline to kick off the anthology. The second offering – ‘The Hidden Woman’ is similar in creepiness – but takes a supernatural approach instead, focusing on a mother and son moving into an inherited property, trying to keep the past at bay – with little success. This is much more slower paced, but eerily builds up the tension slowly and methodically to create some genuinely scary scenes.
‘Cross Your Heart’ featuring Rufus Hound, takes a completely different route and injects some lighthearted comedy amongst the gruesome storyline. After a man and his wife join a swingers group – he quickly realises that the adult fun he was after, is not the kind on the menu that evening. This change in approach really helps to lighten the atmosphere and provide a well-needed tension reliever after the previous two stories. While comedic, it’s still brilliantly gory which helps keep the storyline alive and the campfire still burning. The final tale was our personal favourite and needs to be made into it’s own feature immediately because the concept, characters and creation is nothing short of fantastic. ‘The Keychain Man’ is set in a cinema during a midnight showing, where a disgruntled employee finally snaps, leaving noone safe from his wrath. Although there are comedic elements from the conversations with the three friends, the realism of the premise, the familiar setting and the high levels of gore still keep this as a tense horror short, that might keep you away from a Cineworld for a while!
Each of the four tales are different enough to provide variety, keeping the same level of tension, suspense and horror within each one. The fourth tale brilliantly references back to the prior three with film posters on the wall, which is an excellent little Easter egg for anyone keeping their eyes peeled! After the stories are told, the friends go to bed in their tents for the night – and writers Patrick Michael Ryder, Christine Barber-Ryder, James Bushe solidify their high score by taking the audience down a different route than expected with a very satisfying, not too predictable finish.
Everything within the film is very well done – the lighting, the score, the camera angles; all clean and sleek throughout. The techniques they use to build fear and suspense put a lot of the huge Hollywood films to shame – proving you don’t need 100 unnecessary jump scares or 300 gallons of fake blood to make an effectively scary but fun horror film. Although the stories do differ in style and tone, the execution stays consistent throughout, never feeling underdone or rushed – just using traditional narratives and ideas, but executing them flawlessly. This was such an enjoyable film that the moment we left the screening we sent the IMDB link to pretty much our entire WhatsApp list, whether you’re a die hard horror fan or you like the occasional spooky movie during Halloween, Lore is the perfect pick for your next watch.
The incredible Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival is now in it’s 8th year – a brilliant festival for scary movie fans with a curated collection of some of the best independent horror features, shorts & web series. The screenings take place mainly at the wonderful Hen & Chickens Theatre, with a selection of shorts also being shown at Screen on the Green.
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