The Moor

Opening in Yorkshire 1996, two youngsters relieve their small-town boredom by planning a raid on the local shop owner’s sweet supply. Danny is the distraction while Claire does the stealing. They agree to meet after but Danny fails to show up.

A montage of a police investigation, and a shift forward 25 years a now grown-up Claire (Sophia La Porta) is in the town to meet up with Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson). He has never given up on finding his son’s body. Though the murderer was caught but never gave away where he dumped the bodies, and he’s now due for release. Bill is convinced that if some remains can be found then that will keep the killer in jail and give him some closure.

To help them he calls in medium Alex (Mark Peachy) and his more acutely spiritually attuned daughter Eleanor (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips). As they will be tramping across the moor he also enlists ranger Liz (Vicki Hackett), as they are perilous because of the bogs, and possibly other more spectral reasons.

Director Chris Cronin has been making acclaimed short films for some time now and his step-up to features is an assured, if flawed. Written by Paul Thomas, what starts of as a tight psychological horror/thriller adds in standard elements of folk horror (standing stones, weird animals) which draws is out to two hours.

As such the film gets cluttered moving too far from the central themes of Bill’s ever more dangerous obsession with finding his son, and Claire’s festering guilt that Danny was the victim and her understandable reluctance to step foot in the moor.

But while the focus slips it doesn’t detract from the performances in particular Edward-Robinson tragic and terrifying gradual mental collapse while La Porta’s Claire battles her own demons.

What Cronin does demonstrate is a keen sense of visual and sound dynamics. Here making the moor look terrifying and not softening it up with any allusions to rugged beauty: this is not a place anyone would want to be unless forced to. The use of bodycams accentuates that element of dread.

A final word for the late Bernard Hill, who although has a small role, is significant and reminder of what fine versatile actor he was.

The Moor will be in UK Cinemas from 14th June 2024 and Digital HD from 1 July.