The Morrigan review – spirit of pagan demon queen unleashed in Irish burial chamber horror

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Archaeologists blunder into an ancient and unwittingly release a vengeful monster – with predictable and conventional results In Irish folklore, the Morrígan is a powerful goddess of death and war. This horror movie imagines her as an actual historical figure: a pagan queen massacred with her followers by Christians. A quick scene at the start of the film shows the dirty deed. The Morrígan’s rage against misogyny has screamed down through the centuries – so it’s a shame the film frames her not as a feminist icon but a highly conventional horror movie nemesis; a malign vengeful female to be crushed and destroyed. There is nothing to punch the air about in the end. Saffron Burrows plays an archaeologist called Fiona who has been repeatedly passed over for tenure at her US university. When Fiona presents her radical theory that the myth of the Morrígan may have a basis in real life, her slippery colleague Jonathan (Jonathan Forbes) is made the lead on the dig. Fiona is forced to bring al...
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Hold Your Breath review – Sarah Paulson gets lost in scattered horror

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A 1930s-set thriller, about a family battling mysterious dust storms and a possible intruder, is impressively made and acted but falls apart by the end

An award-winning actor playing a fiercely, even frighteningly, protective mother guarding her two children from an unspecified malevolence in a remote home. No, I’m not talking about last month’s Halle Berry horror Never Let Go (is anyone still talking about that one?), but rather this month’s Sarah Paulson horror Hold Your Breath, a film that carries surface similarities (as well as a hopelessly generic rollercoaster-warning-esque title). Like that film, it plays with recent genre trends – a remote, pandemic-suited location and the corrosive effect of mental illness – as well as the use of a life-saving rope tied to the home for those who need to leave. And like that film, it’s also a bit of a mess.

Originally titled Dust, originally set to star Claire Foy and originally intended for a theatrical release, the film arrives at the beginning of Hulu’s month of genre fare, dubbed Huluween. It’s far classier than that categorisation would suggest (especially when compared with films like cheapo evil pumpkin horror Carved), a handsomely made 1930s-set thriller that, unlike most streaming offerings today, also looks like it could stretch to a cinema screen. Added class also comes from Paulson, one of the most reliable small-screen and stage actors we have, who hasn’t really had enough big-screen chances at least not as lead. While Hold Your Breath isn’t quite able to keep up with her, it’s at least a deserving and all-consuming showcase, the actor exhaustively giving it her all.

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