Gwen

Writer-director William McGregor's debut feature film, "Gwen," has the eerie quiet and grim portent of a supernatural horror story, but it's a genre picture more in form than content.

The film looks and sounds the part of an elegantly haunted gothic horror movie, only to skip past standard chiller expectations to disquiet its audience in more grounded, historically rooted ways.

Atmospheric, creepy, and it had a real sense of bitter chill. Very, very well played by the cast.

It's a bleakly beautiful film, full of angry skies and distant thunder.

There comes a point at which the suffering the characters endure undermines their power instead of reinforcing it.

The story might feel a little one-note at times, but Gwen is an atmospherically rich - and starkly beautiful - tale of anguish.

Despite its concise 84-minute run time, events run out of steam at the midpoint. Things are bleak but how much bleaker can they get?

The most effectively atmospheric film of the year, William McGregor's directorial debut is a stunner that engulfs the viewer in a dark world of paranoia, greed and sickness that produces a brand of horror that's all too relatable and timely.

Gwen is a taut little thriller that offers some truly frightening moments, both ethereally and morally. McGregor has a deft hand with an eye for moody landscapes and a handle on the beats for a solid horror entry.

Gwen is a moody dark film with great performances all around, but the film as a whole feels a bit bland or like something is missing.