I think Dan Stevens was a very good choice for this film: his haunted look, "the eyes that have seen things", also his rather average build which makes him more relatable. The story starts like Wicker Man, with our man going to a weird island that a weird cult settled. He wants to saves his sister, which was abducted and being ransomed for money. You see, the locals are starving, regardless of the protection of their goddess. Slowly, a combination of good old human politics and witchery is revealed while the hero must save the day.
I think the ending was a bit weak, though. Too many twists, one after the other, and people behaving in a certain way just to make the story go in the right direction. Probably the writers cared more about the beginning than the ending, which was quite a mess. I think the fact that Thomas readily found allies in the community there (including the beautiful and innocent girl - you gotta have one of those, right?) also weakened the story. As for the supernatural part, it felt like a gimmick, something that could have been just as easily removed from the film without anyone missing it.
Bottom line: better than your average horror and the fact that it is an era piece makes it feel more grounded. However, the more you run the setup in your head you realize better stories could have been told with the same resources. The bad ending makes the movie go down quite a lot.
I think the ending was a bit weak, though. Too many twists, one after the other, and people behaving in a certain way just to make the story go in the right direction. Probably the writers cared more about the beginning than the ending, which was quite a mess. I think the fact that Thomas readily found allies in the community there (including the beautiful and innocent girl - you gotta have one of those, right?) also weakened the story. As for the supernatural part, it felt like a gimmick, something that could have been just as easily removed from the film without anyone missing it.
Bottom line: better than your average horror and the fact that it is an era piece makes it feel more grounded. However, the more you run the setup in your head you realize better stories could have been told with the same resources. The bad ending makes the movie go down quite a lot.