Shepherd

For those of you who have read my reviews for many years, you may have noticed that i don´t really write reviews close to any premiere´s. Only at a few occations i have published reviews close to a premiere, otherwise i could be months later than many other movie reviewers. I don´t follow any special pattern, i simply write a review when i feel like it. The nice thing about that is i can just choose any film i want, no matter when it was released. That way i get to mix it up a bit and it might be fun for the reader as well. I can give you a perfect example i did it one time, and that was when i published my review for the 2014 indendept film Faults from director Riley Stearns. This film was released in 2014 in different film festivals and on physical DVD August 4th in 2015. I reviewed this film on December 30th in 2015, so that´s almost 5 months later since the film came out on DVD. Either way it turned out to be a great pick for my final review for the year of 2015, and i would not be surprised if many of you have never heard of this film. Faults tells the story of Ansel Roth ( Loland Orser ), a writer and a cult specialist, who fraudulently uses an expired voucher to pay for a meal at the hotel restaurant. Since he have economic problems he need to find a way to get paid. While doing a presentation on his main subject, how religious cults work, a couple named Evelyn and Paul approach Roth requesting an autographed copy of his book. They tell him they need his help to get their daughter Claire ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead ) out of this cult and they are willing to pay him. At first he declines the offer, but since he is in economic trouble this could be his only choice. I think Faults is a fascinating film in many ways, since this film tells the story of the troubled personality of Ansel and the woman Claire who is clearly stuck in her religious cult. The review i did for this film back in 2014 could have been much better, i will happily admit that today, but i will say for the most part i agree with what i said in the review why you should check this film out. Director Riley Sterns gives us a film that tells a different perspective on the subject of religious cults and not predictable, so if you can find this film on DVD i think you should give it a chance. I have been wanting to see a horror film called Shepherd since early 2022 and for some reason did not review this film last year. So why not do it now in early 2023 instead? I bought a blu ray copy from the UK and the question is, does the film Shepherd have a lot to offer horror fans, or should you aviod this title at all cost?

Eric Black ( Tom Hughes ) agrees to work as a shepherd in a deserted house out in the Scottish highlands, after his unfaithful wife has passed away. He needs to do something different, to be able to move on with his life. As he stays in this cabin, he begin to experience strange events in the area. Is he just dreaming, or is this really happening?

I think it is very important to say that this is a film that will divide certain kind of people. How do i mean? If you are not into very dark human portraits and a lot of emotional atmosphere in a lonesome location, then Shepherd is definetely not for you. However, if you love mystical horror influences, beautiful cinematography from Richard Stoddard combined with strong acting performances, than you are in for a very fascinating film. This is one of those films you need to give some time, to really feel the point of this film. Shepherd does not only tell the story of a man struggling with his personal issues, the film also show us how lonliness can affect us mentally. Let´s get ino some of the details that i really appreciate with this film. First of all the beautiful locations matches so well with the story, it really feels like no one else would live out here in the cold Scottish mountains. You can almost feel the ice cold wind in certain scenes, as the camera really manage to capture the weather conditions. The mystical horror scenes is one of the details i really appreciate in certain scenes, where the main character Eric seems to have visions of dark dressed figures. Together with the sound effects and the cold atmosphere surrounding them, this becomes very effective from a horror perspective. Lead actor Tom Hughes ( who i especially remember from the 2018 film Red Joan, worth checking out ) deliver a very strong acting performance of a man who is clearly falling apart mentally. I personally feel that this is the best acting performance i have ever seen him do so far, and i applaud him for that. Actress Kate Dickie ( definetely worth checking out in the 2015 horror film The Witch ) deliver another strong performance here as the character Katherine. Actress Greta Scacchi ( who you should see in the TV series The Terror from 2018 ) knows exactly how to portrait the character Glenys Black. Shepherd is a film that manage to bring up a lot of subjects on mental health, and our right to grief in our own way. Director Russel Owen proves with Shepherd that you don´t need luxuary sets to make a strong film, you need a really good story and some really powerful acting. I could not ask for much more, i am really pleased with what the Shepherd has to offer.

Rating: DDDD