Natasha Kermani explores these perennial considerations in The Dreadful, a magnificent horror film that examines power and manipulation.
Inspired by Kaneto Shindô’s 1964 masterpiece, Onibaba, her gothic take on the Shinto-Buddhist folk legend follows two women bound by a single man whose death tests their devotion. Can morality survive in a world dominated by capitalist greed? And how far will we go to protect ourselves? The Dreadful exposes the corrosive nature of the stories we tell ourselves to justify our desires.
Director: Natasha Kermani
Writer: Natasha Kermani
Stars: Sophie Turner, Kit Harington, Marcia Gay Harden
Anne (Sophie Turner) lives a mostly peaceful life in a quiet cove in medieval England. She shares her humble house with her mother-in-law, Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), as they patiently await the return of her husband, Seamus (Laurence O’Fuarain), from the war. Comparatively poor, the women survive on the produce of their small garden and what they can scavenge or steal from larger estates. When Seamus's childhood friend Jago (Kit Harington) returns to the cove with bad news, Anne and Morwen must reevaluate their lives now that they can't wait for his return. Morwen begins to act with increasing violence as she desperately tries to keep her family together and prevent the young woman from leaving her side.
Meanwhile, a dark figure lurks outside their humble home. His face hidden by a heavy black helmet, a mysterious knight on horseback seems intent on punishing the women for their sins. Or perhaps this figure is a symbol of the destructive greed that took Seamus's life.
Kermani remixes this classic legend with a feminist vision of violence and war. Anne and Morwen have built a pleasant life together until Jago's intrusion plunges them into chaos. His presence may offer the illusion of patriarchal stability, but it sows distrust in their otherwise happy home. As the ultra-masculine knight haunts Ana's dreams, the young widow begins to question the security she has built for herself. With her immortal soul at stake, perhaps she does need a man's protection after all. But where does this leave Morwen, whose increasingly violent choices have made her a burden? Can Jago's intentions be trusted, or is he simply seeking a different kind of conquest?
Drawing on extensive research into Europe's tumultuous Dark Ages and the region's destructive feudal system, Kermani's stunning screenplay blends ancient Japanese folklore with Arthurian legend. Filmed in Tintagel, on the Cornish coast of England, where the legendary king is said to have lived, the landscape possesses an ethereal quality that blends seamlessly with the story's supernatural elements. True to the period, Kermani merges the terrifying specter of a dark knight on horseback with the ingrained horror of a woman's life in this perilous era. We fully understand why Morwen resorts to manipulating men, though we hope it backfires on her.
Kermani plays with the tension of this strange, archetypal love triangle, shifting our loyalties as more information is revealed. Seven years after their celebrated roles in HBO's Game of Thrones, Turner and Harington reunite, this time as childhood friends who become potential lovers. Considering their previous on-screen status as half-siblings to the troubled Stark family, their relationship in The Dreadful always feels a little awkward. But that's probably intentional.
Anne and Jago have been forced together by circumstances, and we're supposed to question the wisdom of their union. Both actors bring nuance to a pairing that might seem inevitable. After all, shouldn't the two most attractive people in the cave, who suddenly find themselves single, end up together? Kermani reminds us that even in this medieval setting, their connection is more complex. Though intriguing, the tense relationship between Anne and Jago becomes a cautionary tale about the price we pay if we let necessity dictate our decisions.
Despite these solid performances, it is Harden who steals every scene as the matriarch, aged yet fierce. Recalling the original legend, we are tempted to reduce her to the sinister "demon witch" (the Spanish translation of Onibaba), and we are shocked, along with Anne, by the lengths to which she is willing to go to maintain her home. But we also wonder if we wouldn't do the same, knowing that the alternative is abandonment, likely followed by inevitable death. Desperate to survive, Morwen uses every tool at her disposal, perhaps dooming herself in the process.
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