“The Dreadful” takes place in late medieval England during the Wars of the Roses. It follows Anne and her mother-in-law Morwen, who live a solitary life on the outskirts of society until a man from their past returns.
A Misleading Sense of Horror
There are hints of evil and demons in the early stages of “The Dreadful.” But they feel more like folk stories than reality.
“The Dreadful” is labeled as a supernatural horror film. There are aspects of that within it, sure. But it functions far more as a drama. Viewers expecting anything else may leave disappointed.
By the time it reaches the final act, “The Dreadful” attempts to go full horror. There are interesting caveats within, but it once again turns dull. The film switches through genres haphazardly, never allowing any single one enough time to fully develop.
This leads to one of the biggest issues with writer-director Natasha Kermani’s movie: its lopsided identity. “The Dreadful” has little reason to go to the supernatural lengths that it does. Those developments feel forced, like another piece tacked on to stretch the runtime.
Style Without Structure
The first 30 minutes are full of beautiful visuals, but not much else. While exploring the mother-daughter dynamic between Anne and Morwen alongside the intrusion of a mysterious man, “The Dreadful” spends an abundance of time on character interactions.
That involves plenty of dialogue-heavy moments. Some add depth and effectively develop motives and ambitions. Others feel pointless. Many early conversations throw information at the audience that never proves useful as the 94-minute runtime progresses. Instead, “The Dreadful” feels like it pads its material to justify its feature length.
Without a concise trajectory in its first act, “The Dreadful” quickly grows aimless. And it never truly recovers.
Even so, certain themes do work. The film explores the toll isolation and poverty take on people, examining morality, manipulation and survival in the process.
Director of photography Julia Swain gives the film a distinct look, experimenting with lenses to create a disorienting aesthetic. Colors shift between radiated and muted tones to reflect different character states. The gothic natural setting – trees, crashing waves, mud, fog – already gives “The Dreadful” rich visual tools to work with.
Even when the story does not live up to the title, the atmosphere sustains a lingering sense of dread.
Performances that Miss the Mark
Marcia Gay Harden (Morwen) stands as the film’s clear standout. While much of the cast plays it safe, Harden commits fully. Her voice cuts through scenes with an unnerving presence that commands attention whenever she appears.
Sophia Turner (Anne) and Kit Harington (Jago) reunite here as well. Their performances can best be described in one word: fine.
Because of their flat delivery and underdeveloped writing, the romantic element falls flat. Asking audiences to invest in a love story within a supposed horror tale is one thing. But “The Dreadful” never fully commits to it either.
Movie titles usually do not lie. And “The Dreadful” is at times a dread to sit through. The central story does not justify a feature-length runtime, oversaturating a stylistic film with unearned romance and misplaced horror.
Rating: 2 out of 5
