User Reviews

The characters were unlikable, the acting bad, and the story and actions made no sense, whatsoever. Was watching this in the theater, and the audience were laughing at the absurdity of the story and characters.

For example, without spoiling anything - one character could have prevented (or at least tried to) another character's death, but they simply stood (literally next to the person) and did nothing but scream. Do yourself a favor and skip this movie.

The only positive aspects of the movie were maybe the idea (never heard about the lord of misrule, personally) and the actor for the main antagonist.

Whenever I find myself in a rural village environment- Bures,Wormingford,Long Melford to any place woodland to old churches to graveyards I find myself in a reveree of nostalgia for old horror movies to English folk lore to MR James. Like the past is calling through the wind in the trees .

It never leaves me.

This movie put me in that mindset.

The photography, music work well together,Ralph Ineson is excellent (as ever) and it wears its influences proudly - too numerous to name here!

Its maybe a little clichéd and predictable when we discover the entire village is involved especially when most of the secondary cast overact bizarrely.

I liked the saying " He stands in the fields and waits"and living in a village with lots of fields surrounding I daydream that something lurking is underneath especially on frosty mornings.

Portraying a strange town, pagan customs, and an old English wilderness deity known for his association with harvests, "Lord of Misrule" felt like an interesting movie to see, especially for a horror fan like myself. It presented a familiar but engaging story that focused more on not knowing instead of full-fledged revelations.

Some ancient customs associated with an age-old English harvest festival - going back to the early 1600s - were ideally showcased in the movie. I also liked how they portrayed the town's female Catholic vicar Rebecca Holland (played by Tuppence Middleton). This cleverly harkened back to pagan roots where women led ceremonies of religious and spiritual importance.

Rebecca was married and had a daughter named Grace (played by Evie Templeton) with husband Henry (played by Matt Stokoe). A lot of the mystery revolved around Grace, making her a focal point in the movie. All three gave natural and notable performances.

The culture-contrast between ancient paganism and modern Catholicism lent the movie a special kind of gravitas. The Hollands had only recently moved to the town, so much of its practices were still foreign to them.

Ralph Ineson as Jocelyn Abney was intriguing to watch. It was also nice to see his own real-life son Luc play a small part in this movie, namely that of Derry Nash.

Ralph's every scene felt suspenseful and substantial. His masked pageantry, stage-play renditions, and bonfire (Feast of Fools) celebrations surrounding the titular Lord of Misrule added to the suspense.

Ineson played his pagan character to simple yet remarkable effect. He apparently represented one who stood against Gallowgog, a contrary antlered entity said to ruin crops. In truth, he was a believer in the old ways and unearthed unnerving but essential truths about Gallowgog being a miraculous, not maleficent, entity.

When Grace later went missing in the woods during the town's harvest festival, hell broke loose in a way, leading to fear, suspicion, and worse as the Hollands strove to make sense of what might have happened to their little girl.

The only clues seemed to be connected to the four-day custom itself, and what each day demanded by way of gifts - Gift of Hair, Gift of Blood, Gift of Fire, Death of the Sun. In addition, seeing strange cloaked figures with masks amplified Rebecca's anxiety. Her personal investigations led her to Derry Nash (played by Luc Ineson) who gave her critical answers that led her to the dreaded Black Barn.

"Lord of Misrule" felt equally unnerving, uncomfortable, and eye-opening, not to forget open to interpretation. It captured the capricious nature of deities, and how so-called human rules and definitions don't always apply when it comes to the worship of ancient entities like Gallowgog.

Rural flourishes, pastoral flair, and pagan beliefs blended into a classic English folktale movie that took chilling liberties to deliver sinister twists, concluding with an interesting answer as to what actually happened to Grace and why she was allowed to return.

The movie provided plenty of lore-based possibilities that she might have become this year's tithe to the ancient fertility god Gallowgog. But then, even this out-of-time deity approved an act of devotion. The movie thus took a supposedly horrific creature and genuinely made it seem like a god.

"All is as was."

I don't think there was a single character that acted like a normal human being in this whole film. The plot twist was they were all aliens right? I mean it was obvious from the fifteen minute mark that the entire town was "in on it" when it comes to the weird harvest god cult thing. Like painfully obvious and in your face. So the town was so blatantly unconcerned and seemed happy, even the husband (who I almost thought was in on it) seemed totally unconcerned with his daughter's disappearance. So we just have scene after scene of "That's weird. Woah, that's weird. Ahhh, that's weird. Wow-ee, that's weird, hey you catching on that they are all in the cult yet bozo? The children being indoctrinated from a young age with "nature club" or whatever, them all berating her, a very clear "us and them" type scene, obviously if it's all the children it's all the adults too, but we figured that out like 40 minutes ago at this point didn't we? I mean just really on the nose indications that the town is all together and the protagonists are the outsiders, The same scene rehashed essentially over and over up until the end finale leads to a boring movie. There is already a dozen or so movies that are this same plot that do it better. Would rather watch Midsommar or even the scarecrow episode of Supernatural...

I am not a big critic of TV but I greatly enjoyed this movie. It had me scared, it had me interested, it had me looking forward to seeing what happens next, and surprisingly , at the end, even felt wholesome. As something based on British folklore it's not necessarily unique, but it's a great new take on a classic(?) tale. I loved seeing all the pagan elements, especially as someone who doesn't know too much about it but absolutely loves old fairytales and stories, as well as different representations of them in media. Essentially, if you're not a self proclaimed 'movie snob', you'll probably enjoy this too.