Review: ‘Gwen’ mangles folk horror with devastating realism

Robert Eggers concocted a modern classic with his 2015 directorial debut, The Witch. Ancient landscapes beget the darkest and most disturbed of the human mind, and it is out of that tormented wellspring that a whole sub-genre continues to be replenished onscreen. Eggers’ initial outing bends and breaks the bones, while analyzing puritanical beliefs, mental anguish and the terribly untrustworthy nature of the world. The trees, the rocks, the hillsides, all seem to growl and grow on their very own, as vital to the story itself. Gwen slips into the brambling bushes of such stylistic tendencies, too, with rapt attention to eerie camera angles, wonderfully bizarre character work and lingering shots that crawl under the fingernails in the dead of night. In his feature debut, director William McGregor usurps every possible expectation. He carves lush countrysides with rich ruin of mankind, managing to utilize much of standard folk horror flair with a more biting realism. His building blocks are carefully placed to guide you along an impoverished pathway, and from the crackling tension that spurts out of every corner, the slow descent is a captivating one, indeed.

Eleanor Worthington-Cox (Maleficent), only 16 when filming in the sprawling nature scene of Snowdonia, commands such an imposing presence that, truly, a star is born here. Portraying the emotionally-distraught title character, she contends with her father’s absence ⏤ the truth of which is exposed in the final act, serving as the final straw for Gwen ⏤ and a mother named Elen (Maxine Peake, known for her work in Shameless and Black Mirror‘s “Metalhead” episode) whose coldness will chill the very blood in your veins. Elen’s health takes a mysterious and swift decline, giving further weight to the darkness that seems to strangle the family. While there is certainly plenty of peculiar happenings circling overhead, McGregor bases the narrative very much in the mundanity of everyday living and struggle. He sprinkles in eye-twitching supernatural elements for good measure, and as the story shape-shifts from entirely predictable beats to crushing psychological mayhem, what you think you know is exactly what it isn’t.

Gwen‘s very lean runtime, yet also feeling surprisingly complete, makes for a brisk immersion into pre-modern times. You could say the film largely feels like an exaggerated Anton Chekhov play; nothing especially thrilling happens ⏤ until it does. Worthington-Cox supplies much of the story’s backbone, an apt scene partner to Peake, who is absolutely terrifying as a deeply-flawed mother trying to do right by her husband, her children and her homestead. The local village and its ravenous mine tycoons unexpectedly emerge as a vital players of their own, flipping the script entirely and then nailing it to the icy earth. Things come to a rupturing, fire-soaked head in the last 15 minutes, and beware, your expectations will probably shock you.

Gwen arrives on Shudder this week.

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