I love genre films, but was utterly bored by this horror flick. The filmmakers clearly don't understand what a great horror movie needs or what it takes to create scary scenes. There's hardly any tension and there is only 1 great jump scare in the entire movie. The story is way too slow, the storytelling clumsy and unfocussed, the audience hardly engages with the characters and the horrorscenes are too clichee and boring. The story doesn't take you by the hand, instead you watch it from a distance. You don't give a damn if someone dies or not. Its biggest mistake is that there are hardly chills and thrills.
*** Spoilers ahead... ***
The reason is that the source of horror is confusing. The women (witte wieven) are only standing in the fields staring, but doing nothing. Someone dies of a heart attack seeing them (bleeeh...the character is scared but we aren't). The real monster turns out to be Moloch, an evil God, but he only created a curse within a family, which means no one else is really in danger. This is what you sense throughout the film. And the family curse is also quite complex. Are the villagers doing it? They sacrifice people, so are they the ones to be scared of? I have no idea. But if they are the ones keeping this spell alive by having one of the women in Betriek's family cut her own throat, then this would only happen once every 20 years?? And only within that family?? It is all very confusing... and therefore not scary. Only once in a while one of the villagers gets possesed (I assume by the witte wieven) trying to kill the mother of Betriek, but even these scenes are not scary, but instead a bit cheesy.
So all in all... Not much to see here. 3 out of ten.
*** Spoilers ahead... ***
The reason is that the source of horror is confusing. The women (witte wieven) are only standing in the fields staring, but doing nothing. Someone dies of a heart attack seeing them (bleeeh...the character is scared but we aren't). The real monster turns out to be Moloch, an evil God, but he only created a curse within a family, which means no one else is really in danger. This is what you sense throughout the film. And the family curse is also quite complex. Are the villagers doing it? They sacrifice people, so are they the ones to be scared of? I have no idea. But if they are the ones keeping this spell alive by having one of the women in Betriek's family cut her own throat, then this would only happen once every 20 years?? And only within that family?? It is all very confusing... and therefore not scary. Only once in a while one of the villagers gets possesed (I assume by the witte wieven) trying to kill the mother of Betriek, but even these scenes are not scary, but instead a bit cheesy.
So all in all... Not much to see here. 3 out of ten.