TL;DR – While it nails the vibes of a film in this space, it didn’t capture me with its narrative, creating a chasm that I could not parse.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Lord of Misrule Review Introduction –

I think one of the most possibly terrifying issues a parent could face is a child going missing. I mean, I lost track of my nephew in an IKEA for thirty seconds, and it was terrifying. That pain of not knowing, the loss of all that is dear. It is in that space full of folk-horror tones that we find ourselves today.

So, to set the scene, deep in the countryside, there is the village of Berrow, where church organs still bellow out their ancient chords. The new vicar, Rebecca Holland (Tuppence Middleton), is trying to find her place in a village with an old soul that runs deep. But their world is turned upside down when her daughter Grace (Evie Templeton) is chosen as the ‘Harvest Angel’ and then disappears at the local festival. No one knows where she went, but Rebecca saw her led into the forest by a demon, or someone dressed as one, not that anyone believes her.  

Setting

As settings go, they do knock it out of the park with Berrow because old rural English towns fit in this wonderful juxtaposition of being both profoundly charming and deeply creepy. Well, Lord of Misrule leans into that juxtaposition with a sheer gusto that is almost to be commended. You see that the most in the opening festival, full of flutes, drums, and everyone dressing up like a bland Halloween. It gives you vibes of sheer silliness; however, you already know that something sinister is about to happen, so it comes off as completely off-putting, well, even more so than usual. It is so on the nose in places you expect to hear someone talking about “the greater good” every second line.

Old and Older

Another of the tensions in the film comes from the conflict of old and older. the tension between man and nature. the tension between Christianity and Paganism that has graced many a folk-horror film. The ancient stone church up on a hill feels like the foundation of a community, but then the roots of the town go back further and deeper. That tension is at the heart of the supernatural-y vibes that permeate the film’s subtext, and in places the literal text. Though when it comes to the thematic nature of the film, the music is doing a lot of the heavy lifting thematically. Choral voices colliding with drums and long mournful strings. It helps create this feeling of not knowing what is real and what is a dream.

Tension

When I said that the music was doing a lot of heavy lifting, I was not being subtle, so much of the film rests on the ambience that it creates, that the moment you notice it, things start to fall apart. The story feels more based on vibes than substance. More a cavalcade of ‘isn’t this weird’ than an actual mystery to explore. The more this went on, the more I felt myself pulling away from the narrative, like there was a growing chasm between me and the story that not even Ralph Ineson’s commitment to be profoundly weird could shake, which made the final resolution fall flat for me, even if it was visually quite stunning.  

Recommendation

In the end, do we recommend Lord of Misrule? Unfortunately, I don’t think I can recommend it because it didn’t capture me for the entire runtime, which left me more than a little underwhelmed. However, if it does manage to grab you for the whole run, then I think you might be in for something interesting.

Have you watched Lord of Misrule? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked Lord of Misrule, we would recommend The Green Knight to you because it also sits in the weirding world between the old and the ancient.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Lord of Misrule
Directed by – William Brent Bell
Screenplay by – Tom de Ville
Music by – Brett Detar
Cinematography by – Simon Rowling
Edited by – Andrew Leven
Production/Distribution Companies – Harcourt Capital, Riverstone Pictures & Magnet Releasing
Starring – Tuppence Middleton, Matt Stokoe, Evie Templeton, Ralph Ineson, Alexa Goodall, Anton Valensi, Rosalind March, Jane Wood, Sally Plumb, David Langham & Robert Goodman
Rating – Australia: M;