Lore
“Lore” is a horror drama that plays with surroundings of nature and makes camping a little more sketchy to do; even when you’re with friends and family. There’s a lot of interesting elements this film adds to the horror genre and it recycles a lot of familiar ones to invest an audience that loves the genre already (like me). It’s not over the top regarding the frightening moments, nor is it underwhelming. I was quite pleased with how creepy some of the scenes were with my initial viewing.
The film revolves around two parents who try and find their son after he leaves due to the parents having a rocky relationship that results in a possible divorce. Their son goes missing on his camping trip and the local authorities have given up hope to find him. The town priest proclaims to know somebody who might help; a local Native American. As they enter the forest, something becomes more clear: a supernatural-like thing doesn’t want them to be there, and it’ll do anything it can to get them out.
This film explores more of the parents’ relationship status with each other and the effects it had on their son. It’s a dramatic element that gives the filmmakers some room to explain who these characters are and why we should care; which I ultimately did to some degree. It seemed very possible that these two parents can exist in some way. As the film goes on there’s a few flashbacks that emphasis the bond between each parent and their child. What those flashbacks do accomplish is establishing that the two parents at least tried to talk to their son regarding their own parental issues and each one didn’t end as one might have hoped. If that’s what the filmmakers were going for, then they succeeded and in a way that adds more motivation for them want to find him. Although it’s a bit slow at some parts and a little repetitive, the scares were quite surprising when they started to happen to the group. There were a couple scenes where my heart jumped due to the slow build-up and the unexpected elemental-like creature appearing in the darkness. I had to pause it and rewind to the first moment and say to myself, “oh hell no!”. It’s creepy.
If you’re a fan of the horror genre, this is worth checking out for the scary moments. That’s what really kept me invested in the film overall because of how slow of a build up it was. With a believable performance from the actors and the slow camera movements that only show you what the main characters see, this adds a little more eeriness to the wilderness. You can tell the filmmakers had inspiration from old horror films that take place in the woods; such as “The Blair Witch”. The cast and crew did a great job at adding to the suspense of what lurks behind the trees, even though not much is known of what it can be other than a being that is cursed to walk the woods for eternity; which is still pretty darn creepy if that’s the case. You want to go camping again this summer? Do a little research on the area before you go so you don’t run into some creepy lore that can play games with you at night.
