I said I was done with the folk horror theme and, for the most part, that is true but this movie was recommended as part of the theme by a member of the Discord. It ends up being much less of a folk horror than it is just a western horror. It’s also a movie with an unreliable narrative that may or may not be an example of the very real affliction that existed back in the old west known as prairie madness.

The movie starts with a long opening with no dialogue as our main character, Lizzy, exits a cabin covered in blood and carrying something wrapped in cloth. The blood isn’t hers but Emma’s, the only neighbor of theirs out on the frontier, and the bundle is the baby that they couldn’t save. Emma apparently shot herself and we get a good long look at it as she gets buried with her baby. The rest of the movie then jumps back and forth in time. We see Emma and her husband Gideon’s arrival and the events that led up to the opening. We also follow Lizzy in the present as she has been left alone to clean up the blood and mess and fend for herself while her husband, Isaac, goes to town for supplies and to guide Gideon. What is real or imagined from that point on is anyone’s guess.

The character of Lizzy is an interesting one as the movie invites us to sympathize and share in her problems but doesn’t make her a hero. She is a deeply troubled character that is losing control of her life and the blame for that isn’t something that can be placed at any other character’s feet. There isn’t an antagonist in this movie, as much as Lizzy has confrontations with Emma and Isaac. Instead, the antagonist is the setting itself and the isolation that consumes Lizzy in her daily life. As we learn more of the backstory of what happened with Emma and events even before that, the film continues to present Lizzy as a character that isn’t entirely relatable but one that is still compelling. Caitlin Gerard is forced to carry so much of this movie by herself as Lizzy and does an excellent job in the portrayal.

The plot of the movie being a scattershot narrative that jumps all around in the timeline without any clear pattern makes it challenging but plays into the overall theme of uncertainty with what is happening. The movie doesn’t ever make it absolutely clear one way or the other if the things Lizzy is experiencing are symptoms of a troubled mind or actual demonic influence. It needs to rely heavily on the tension and uncertainty since this is a movie without almost any real traditional scares and the ones we do get towards the end feel like some of the weaker parts. At its strongest, the movie is playing into the isolation and desperation that Lizzy feels and the ending certainly pays that off.

I wouldn’t say this is a great film but it’s an interesting one. The direction and writing make what could have been a very dull, forgettable movie into one that manages to engage the viewer.

Score: 3.5 out of 5