[Film Review] FrightFest: The Moor (2023)

“How can a place want anything?”

Content warning: child abuse/endangerment 

Chris Cronin’s The Moor (2023) is a sad and scary exploration of how childhood trauma can haunt you later in life. While horror fans have seen dozens of films about trauma over the last decade or so, The Moor does something fresh. It’s a horror movie that relies on a traumatic event to kick off the action, not a movie about trauma that is also frightening.

Claire (Sophia La Porta) and Danny (Dexter Sol Ansell) are childhood friends, and one day, they concoct a plan to steal candy from a corner store. Danny approaches the counter and says he’s lost his dad, and while the shopkeeper is distracted, Claire fills her book bag with sweets. Claire doesn't see Danny come back out of the shop, and the man at the counter says his dad came and took him. Danny went missing, also with many other local children around the same time, and eventually, a man was convicted of one murder. There wasn’t evidence for Danny’s murder, or for any other missing children. Twenty-five years later, as the criminal prepares to be released from jail, Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson) makes a renewed effort to look for evidence of Danny’s death. He contacts Claire, and asks her to use her podcast to raise awareness. Claire agrees to help, and they go looking in the moor, where the bodies of children were dumped. Bill hires a ranger to guide them through the unfamiliar landscape, and some physics to help him locate anything related to his son.

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The titular moor is daunting and deeply scary, on an existential level. The film’s cinematography makes smart use of drones to show the audience how unfathomable the size is. It’s bigger than Claire ever realized, sprawling for miles in every direction. There are peat bogs that could quickly swallow a person, and they are hard to see, blending in with the rest of the landscape. There are unsettling stone carvings, possibly from a time before recorded history. The weather can change without warning, and the hikers find themselves in freezing downpours or thick fog from one moment to the next.

The Moor understands how worrisome it is to lose sight of a young child you’re responsible for, even if only for a second. Children can run off so quickly, even when you’re doing your best to keep track of them. The children in this town were loved and wanted, and they still disappeared without a trace, in many cases. At the start of the film, when Claire and Danny are at the corner store, Danny pretends to have lost his dad, and then that becomes true.  It’s almost as if he spoke it into existence, but in reality, it was a predator taking advantage of the situation.  

The horror builds throughout, and the creepiness of the movie pays off with a strong ending.  There are a few well-placed jump-scares, sound design that adds to the stress and tension, and lovable, realistic characters. Check out The Moor, but don’t get lost.

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