Lord of Tears (2013) Reviews

• Atmospheric and personal Gothic horror

  filmbizarro2013-10-21

  The "Lord of Tears" team might be some of the smartest crowdfunders in horror recently, basically giving horror fans exactly what they want to see with their teasing. They doubled their goal and then some, and it's not a surprise when their main teaser was the image of a slenderman-like figure in Victorian clothing, an owl head and long freakish fingers/claws. It's what children's and adult's nightmares alike are made of. And now it is time for this Gothic and poetic horror movie to reach its anticipating audience and reviewers. It tells the classic tale of a troubled man returning to his past to find answers. James Findlay is a school teacher who has been suffering from nightmares of a figure we've come to know as the "Owlman". As I said before, a well-dressed human-like figure with an owl's head and long claws for fingers. This is a vision that's been haunting him since his childhood, but that he has finally put to rest. When his mother dies the Owlman returns to his dreams, and James sets out to get rid of his nightmares once and for all - by returning to his childhood's home where the nightmares started. At his return he meets a woman who he starts hanging out with to keep his sanity, while he investigates the history of the house and what happened to him in the past. The movie does where its influences and inspirations on its sleeve, and sometimes even in the plot. History, religion, ghost stories and authors like Lovecraft, Hammer horror movies, Japanese horror, and so forth is very much all of the "Lord of Tears". And not in a bad way, it successfully uses what it needs to tell an atmospheric story. Except maybe the Japanese horror aspect, especially aesthetically and in the editing in certain parts - that might be one of the low points of the movie for me. It's actually a quite specific moment where you get a sense of that kicking in, and that's also when I think the movie went slightly downhill. The build-up of this movie is very long but it also has to introduce you to a number of characters, its main location, much of the lore without spoiling anything, and so on. In true classic horror fashion it knows that you need to be aware of what you are watching before it brings out the big guns - or the big owl. The Gothic Hammer horror atmosphere might be the strongest influence, which comes free with the territory by its location, telling a ghost story and using history and religion to do so. It's a movie that heavily relies on its back story and they successfully build an interesting lore. The atmosphere is really strong within this movie, but I don't think it delivered any actual scares. Its iconic Owlman is a great character and many of the shots are fantastic, but I had hopes for a figure that would haunt me long after the movie ended. The Owlman didn't end up feeling like a villain as much as the one to guide James. Nothing wrong with that, and not necessarily a bad thing, but not quite what I thought I'd get whenever I looked at the terrific design of the character. What Owlman lacked in scares for me, I think it made up in purpose towards the end. "Lord of Tears" has a familiar story and quite often you can predict what's about to happen, but when things come full circle at the end you're definitely pleased with the experience. It has a few bumps on the road, such as the Japanese horror inspired part later in the movie (at least this was the case for me). But between the location, the soundtrack and the Owlman, this is a movie that's packed with atmosphere and well worth a watch. A lot of independent productions lack atmosphere and I think that's the main force of this one. It's a good watch, but personally it's not something I will revisit any time soon. Definitely worth buying and hopefully it will deliver more chills and scares to someone else, but either way it delivers a well-rounded and personal story that many horror fans will love. More reviews at FilmBizarro.com

• Lord of Tears: Embarassing

  Platypuschow2018-06-02

  This was a recommendation, it was suggested to me that this looked like it could potentially be scary stuff! It was not, it truly truly wasn't. Lord Of Tears is one of those horrors that thinks it's a lot smarter than it actually is, an over convoluted plot, an arthouse look and student film level quality. An English horror I'm surprised just how much I walked away disliking the film, some of the visuals are adequate but there is just no substance, lackluster performances and honestly the plot is a mess. I like the concept I do, but it was utilized so incompetently it left the film a barely watchable embarassment. I'm not a great lover of British cinema at the best of times but this is British cinema in the hands of people who have no place in the industry. Certainly one to avoid. The Good: Beautiful scenery Visual effects are quite good in places The Bad: Acting is sub-par Comes across like a bad arthouse film Awful scoring At several points I did actually ask myself what the hell I was watching Plot is seven shades of awful Things I Learnt From This Movie: No accent grinds on me more than a Scottish one You can stay in the Mansion featured in the film for just under 400 British pounds per night

• Atmospheric, must see chiller, shot in the Scottish Highlands

  ewanlauder2014-02-05

  Unravelling a childhood mystery, James Findlay (Euan Douglas) encounters the Owl man (David Schofield), an ancient, knowing, and rather decadent apparition. Doubting his sanity, James digs further into the secrets of his ancestral home, Baldurrock house. Where conned by the ethereal and stalked by the unimaginable, his confused existence becomes a waking nightmare. Lord of Tears succeeds in creating a pretty memorable sense of foreboding and fright. Blending elements of whodunnit, folk-horror and maybe even j-horror, heightened by wonderful scenes with Eve (dancer/actor Alexandra Hulme), who adds to the off-beat ambiance with a siren like performance, and the Owl man himself, who brazenly stalks his prey, often in broad daylight. The stately pile may be a genre cliché, but here, with inspired narrative and stylised photography and sound, a night in Baldurrock becomes a truly fearful proposition. Though I have to say, I'd actually like to meet the fiendish Owl man. I think he'd be quite enlightening. A must see :)

• I really wanted to like this...

  pre-sales2014-02-13

  ...after all, I paid £20 to watch it. Yes, I came into IMDb, searched for "Horror Movies of the Last Five Years Scoring More Than 8 / 10". This came up. Really? 8.1 / 10 from NINETY people? Unconditionally positive critical reviews? Where do I sign? It's dreadful. Amateurish, badly acted, devoid of scares, with an obtrusive soundtrack and an utterly forgettable bad guy with a terrible case of overbearing reverb on his voice. I have absolutely NO idea how this qualified for an award from Sundance. It looks like a third rate camcorded school project. The positive point: well packaged and sent in black tissue paper with a single owl feather. But seriously. £17.99 plus packaging?? The only thing I can think is that this is a 'cast, crew, family and friends'-rated movie. For those of you that have seen it and were as disappointed as I was - write a review. Let's see if we can save a few people a similar let-down.

• For those who love story, characters and a lot of atmosphere for their scares

  extremehorrorcinema2013-10-27

  Now I'm not big on ghost films but 'Lord of Tears' directed by Lawrie Brewster is a slow burn character driven piece with atmosphere so thick you could suffocate a child to Moloch. What an experience it is and I absolutely loved it. Brewster creates some great scenes of intense atmosphere and in one such scene, I even had goose bumps and chills running up and down my spine. Something of which I haven't experienced since I watched Dario Argento's 'Suspiria' and before that, I can't remember the last time this happened. There isn't any jump scares as it is all just pure atmosphere with some chilling imagery. Now that's talent. The movie takes what you know and throws it in your face just over the half way mark and the ending comes out of nowhere grabbing your balls in a vice leaving you a little depressed and sick to the stomach. I watched it with my sister, she was so freaked during some moments, and I had to keep telling her to shut up. She has since changed her Facebook Banner Photo to the film's mysterious and unsettling entity of the Owl Man. I also loved the use of ancient legends and mythologies. It grounds everything in a somewhat taboo and older soil as it's inspired by actual immortal figures of our past. These characters Gods if you will were once an everyday part of human life and seeing such figures having air breathed back into them albeit stale, dark and twisted air just makes the proceedings that much more atmospheric. I shudder to think the amount of hours the filmmakers scrambled around doing research. Some of the performances aren't exactly top notch (which was expected) but that said it made the movie that much more grounded and it has a quirky awkward mist in the air that is always present in these situations. Perhaps the passable acting is intentional as it is effective in making everything so much more connectible. The character of James (Euan Douglas) is rather likable and you end up feeling for him as he has an odd innocence. We see him plagued by nightmares of the Owl Man and suspecting that his terrifying visions are related to a traumatic incident from his past he returns to his childhood home a mansion in the Scottish Highlands. Here he discovers the disturbing truth behind the nightmarish images in his mind the consequences of which lead to a brutal fight for survival. Eve (Alexandra Hulme) is stunningly beautiful and her looks are rather side tracking. David Schofield as the Owl Man delivers some utterly brilliant lines. He is chilling stuff and I love the way he speaks with poetic like dialogue. It reminds me of Doug Bradley's performance as Pinhead in the first two Hellraiser films as he is neither good nor evil just extremely well presented and doing what he is meant to within his rules. If I have one complaint though it would be the forest scene as his voice makes it a tad hard to catch everything he says but it is just that one scene. Credit here must go to Sarah Daly as her writing is fantastic and I look forward to see what other dark and twisted stories she and the director has to offer. I feel very comfortable stating that 'Lord of Tears' IS the best modern horror movie I've seen in the last three years since Kim Jee-Woon's 'I Saw The Devil'. Between then and this I haven't really liked anything much in the genre. This is a contender along with Tobe Hooper's 'Poltergeist' for taking the crown for my most loved ghost-like horror film as well. I was terrified by the hype and excitement surrounding it and I was worried it was going to ruin it for me and I'm ever so glad it didn't. I loved every frame of it and I will without doubt fully support any future projects this team works on. My hat goes off to them and I thank them so much very much for such a beautiful piece of filmmaking. Oh, and I loved their shout out to Chris Lee and Extreme Horror Cinema in the credits. In a time where horror is flooded by remakes, reboots, sequels and lame "true story" found footage movies that are full of pathetic jump scares it is a breath of fresh air to see something this original and perfectly orchestrated to surface from the independent market. 10/10 Join us @ extremehorrorcinema.com