“God can’t save you. You have to save yourself.”
Religious horror—and it’s intertwining with feminine rage—is having a resurgence, of late. Even beyond the confines of festival throughlines, this particular thematic trend is on the upswing, and for obvious reasons. With everything imaginable being challenged, threatened, and/or constrained right now, it’s no surprise we’d see more exploration of these particular tools of oppression bearing fruit on the creative front.
Writer/director Dean Puckett’s THE SEVERED SUN, which just played at the 2024 Fantastic Fest, is not perfect, and occasionally makes some rather unusual choices, but it is a visual feast of vengeful folk horror with an anger at its core that is as delightful to watch as it is unhinged.
Magpie (Emma Appleton), daughter of The Pastor (Toby Stephens), is in mourning for her recently departed husband. Much of the rest of the secluded parish regards her husband as a “good man”, but when she confronts one of them with the violent truth—and another “foul man” winds up dead—Magpie soon finds herself accused of all manner of sins. Murder. Fornication with demons. Generally being an obstinate bother to the norms her parish has established to survive.
What unfolds is a visually stunning feat of righteous anger, and an all too common narrative of suppressing the unspeakable in the name of maintaining a version of peace that upholds only the most poisonous power.
The Beast (James Swanton) Magpie wakes is darkly beautiful and merciless in its violence. The cinematography—particularly of the scenes in the forest—by Ian Forbes and score, which contains original music by Unknown Horrors, work hand in hand to transport us to a sense of constant unease as we watch the men of the parish try to bend Magpie to their whims and will.
There is a portion of the plot that…adds little more than confusion and a whole other sort of discomfort that could easily have been resolved with one or two different choices, but overall THE SEVERED SUN is a bloody good trek through the secluded woods of revenge.
Tags: Dean Puckett, Emma Appleton, Fantastic Fest 2024, Film Festivals, Folk Horror, Ian Forbes, James Swanton, Religious Horror, The Severed Sun, Toby Stephens, Unknown Horrors
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