If you haven’t seen my weekend post (its HERE), last week I received my Collector’s DVD for a Kickstarter project called Lord of Tears that I had contributed to earlier this year. The best thing about these independent projects is that I never know what to expect, so when I popped my DVD into the player, my boyfriend and I had absolutely no idea what we were getting into. My boyfriend had totally blanked out as to what the movie was even about, and all I remembered was something about with Owlman. Let’s check it out!
Director: Lawrie Brewster
Cast: Euan Douglas, Alexandra “Lexy” Hulme, Jamie Scott Gordon, David Schofield
I’m not going to start butchering the synopsis and I’m a bit on a time-constraint (its 2am and I should be sleeping), so here’s the one I found on IMDB.
Lord of Tears tells the story of James Findlay, a school teacher plagued by recurring nightmares of a mysterious and unsettling entity. Suspecting that his visions are linked to a dark incident in his past, James returns to his childhood home, a notorious mansion in the Scottish Highlands, where he uncovers the disturbing truth behind his dreams, and must fight to survive the brutal consequences of his curiosity.-IMDB
Lord of Tears is definitely a different horror experience. Its dives into the world of mythological world and the inner world of dreams and reality, touching on the world of spirits. It sets itself in mostly the above location and the atmosphere is shot dark, intense and mysterious. That matches the movie very much as James is searching for answers to what is haunts his dreams in a sense. At the same time, it has an amazing soundtrack that matches with the mood as it shifts to the different situations encountered.
The story itself is written very well. Lord of Tears seems to have two different acts and is portrayed in different moods that create a different sort of fear. The first part is slow-paced as we follow James in his search for who this Owlman is and slowly his curiosity leads him into something that falls apart into something unexpected and the pace speeds up after that in the second part till the end. We get caught in a chilling and creepy movie that pulled me right in and intensely scared.
The characters themselves are peculiar but for the most part, very likeable. At the beginning, there was a bit of weirdness to the acting, something along the lines of deliberate exaggeration, but eventually, I think it grew on me and it contributed to the story as a whole. James is our main character and for the most part, he really pulls us into the story as he hunts down his past; the reality versus his dreams. Alongside James, we are introduced to an American girl taking care of the mansion called Eve. I’m going to say it right here that Eve is my favorite character. She has this mysterious air but also a very happy feeling and this positive impact on James. Of course, our last character is the Owlman. He is our character’s mystery and he stays that way as he makes the viewers wonder who is he and what is he going to do? Is he real or just a childhood dream? Plus, our Owlman talks in this chilling voice and his dialogue adds to the whole mood/atmosphere.
Overall, Lord of Tears is full of awesome surprises. You won’t see the story and where it will turn into at all. I, myself, actually figured it out spontaneously when I got up to pour myself some water and then it clicked right before the second act started and things got really crazy. However, even though I somewhat figured out what was going on, the way it was done, filmed, was just so amazing. With a unique storyline, an intense atmosphere and some intriguing characters, Lord of Tears is a horror I’d highly recommend. After a few days of letting it sink in, I truly believe that the after effects has made me feel that this movie is possibly one of the best horrors I’ve seen (even if I’m not experienced in this genre).
Tranquil Dreams 