Directed by William McGregor
A mysterious — and suspicious — run of ill fortune plagues a teenage girl and her mother and sister on their hillside farm in this folk story set in the dark hills of Wales during the industrial revolution.
The Dark Outside, Гвен, גוון, 格温, Ґвен, 그웬, غوين
Canada Toronto International Film Festival 
USA 
Ireland15 
UK15 USA Canada Ireland UK USA 
Wouldst thou like to live miserably?
was waiting for thy boi black phillip to show up and save the day...... i hath been left disappointed 😔
it's so obvious they were trying to copy the witch, i'm surprised they didn't write the title as "gvven" on the poster
Maybe a re-watch could change my mind, but its too ominous and the character's motivations are thrown out the window. Though the cast is good, the visuals are stunning, and the atmosphere is on full display here creating a mood that's something terrible is about to happen. Still, it's a film that I appreciate more than I like.
I'm a sucker for a folk horror period piece and can forgive many a flaw, but this was interminably boring and there was zero payoff. An outstanding performance by Eleanor Worthington-Cox who played the titular Gwen was unfortunately lost within an aimless story. And those poor sheep -- I think they need a visit from daddy Krampus from Lamb.
Skip this and watch Gareth Evans' phenomenal Netflix period horror Apostle. It even has the same religious bad guy in it.
All those directors making folk horror films these days are trying to do what Eggers did with The Witch and most of them fails so bad. First The Wind, now this. Nice cinematography and good acting isn't enough when you can't create the tension.
“I remember when there was three families in this valley. And now there’s only one farm left.”
when i see folk horror, i click. easy as that. Gwen is a welsh production set in the early 19th century wilderness of snowdonia. it has a very similar premise to The Wind which also came out last year. both follow isolated women under harsh conditions who are faced with possibly supernatural threats. while the later is a western that tackles frontier anxieties, this one uses the same themes and turns the pastoral idyll into a hostile, haunted space.
masculinity is distinctly associated with the antagonistic villagers and the far-away war, while Gwen’s household is one of women. since we’re experiencing events from…
"It’s shite being Welsh! We’re the lowest of the low! The scum of the fucking Earth! The most wretched, miserable, servile, pathetic trash that was ever shat into civilization. Some hate the English. I don’t. They’re just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. Can’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by. We’re ruled by effete assholes. It’s a shite state of affairs to be in, Mari, and all the fresh air in the world won’t make any fucking difference!"
4/10
Although this film is not a horror film (if it is, it's on the VERY fringe of it,) Gwen might be one of the heaviest, dark, and horrifying films of the year. It's a dark drama with phenomenal and subtle performances, a damp and terrifying concept in its themes about power and the forced hand of innovation, and a familial implosion. For a film with relatively little plot, it's layered as hell and it manages to say so much with very little. It is NOT a film for everyone with its intentional slow pace and minimalist approach, but it's a gem for the year in execution.
Stylistically beautiful with excellent cinematography, set design and period costumes, but substantively lacking, 'Gwen' provides none of the depth, emotional weight or sheer dread 'The Witch' did.
The decision to use ambient noise in lieu of the expected, overly used droning music many films like this have (for example Hagazussa), instead opting for a minimal and meticulously placed score was an appreciated one. The periodic silence and more prominent sounds of howling wind through the valleys added to the overall suspense considerably, but alone this was not enough. What little suspense it builds equates to almost nothing.
A very cheap jump-scare that made me blurt out "you're better than this" at my TV, and a final scene that didn't really…
Bulldog. Cinema
2.35:1
Color
Codex
15
Maxine Peake is formidable in Gwen. Quaint gothic horror that explodes in small instances of truly frightening and haunting moments of absolute terror. Think The Babadook meets The VVitch with a more of restraint angle. The cinematography by Adam Etherington is astounding.
86
I watched this movie on Bluray but it is a Shudder original and can still be found on Shudder. Now and then, I find a movie on Shudder that makes me wonder why they picked it up. They are all about horror movies, but some of the movies they have don't really feel like horror movies. They are usually foreign movies such as this one from the UK. Everyone has their idea of what horror is, but this movie was a drama to me. Not that it wasn't any good because it wasn't a horror movie though.
The story is set at the start of the industrial age. A mother and her two daughters are trying to live off the…
