Director: Gareth Evans
Writer: Gareth Evans
Stars: Dan Stevens, Richard Elfyn, Paul Higgins
Run Time: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes
Synopsis
It is 1905. Thomas Richardson’s sister Jennifer is being held captive for ransom by a group of cultists. He is advised not to pay the ransom until he sees Jennifer alive. In the meantime, he’s to blend in with the other villagers in town. Oh, and he’s addicted to opium.
When he boards the ship to take him to Erisden island, they make him burn any books or papers. He switches ID cards with someone, and the man with Tom’s fake ID gets marked with a big “X” on his suitcase. When he arrives, they give him bread and a jar. He’s also given a book by the “Prophet Malcolm.”
He goes to church, where Malcolm speaks. He talks about the goddess of the island, who speaks through him. Later, Malcolm goes to see his henchman, who has been torturing the man with the X on his suitcase. They realize that this isn’t the right man, so they kill him and start to search for the real intruder.
Jeremy and his girlfriend Ffion talk about building a house together, and then they have sex. As she leaves, she bumps into Thomas, who’s snooping around at night. He watches Malcolm cutting a woman and dripping some of her blood into her jar. Thomas then steals a little blood from others’ jar to fill his own.
Thomas confronts Jeremy; he’s seen Jennifer. A month ago, she came to the island in a box as a hostage. We see that the livestock are all born dead here.
Malcolm is aware that someone was prowling around after dark, and he gives the newcomers a test. The man next to Tom attacks Malcolm; Tom wasn’t the only one outside last night. Tom gets stabbed, which proves to the others that he’s loyal. Now, Malcolm owes Thomas his life. Andrea, Malcolm’s daughter, patches up Thomas.
Malcolm wants to draw out the spy, so he drags Jennifer into the center of town and makes it clear that she’s going to suffer. Thomas is high at the time and unable to respond. The next morning, she’s still outside being tortured.
That night, the village has a celebration. Thomas dances with Andrea, and she thinks he may be more than he claims. Malcolm and his men search everyone’s rooms, and they find a map Thomas drew. Meanwhile, Thomas is digging under one of the buildings to access the secret tunnels beneath. Thomas hides in a pool of blood and is attacked by a stranger woman who seems to live down there. He escapes, but then finds cave drawings of the strange woman.
Malcolm confronts the weird woman; she is the goddess of the island. He feeds her with his own blood. The next day, Thomas and Andrea talk about his backstory and lack of faith. “She provided for us… once,” Andrea explains. “Now the ground is toxic.”
Jeremy’s father, Frank, also wants to leave, and he tell Malcolm this. “This community is broken,” he explains. “We have a goddess in chains that’s poisoning us from within.” Malcolm talks Frank into staying and Frank talks some sense into Malcolm.
Jeremy’s girlfriend, Ffion, tells him that she’s pregnant, and he wants to get married. Their parents would never allow it, so he wants to run away. Her father explains that, “that thing will kill you,” as he knows what happens to all the animals born there. Then he kills her then blames Jeremy.
They catch Jeremy and bring him back for punishment. Quinn, Ffion’s father, torture him by fixing him to a table with clamps and then drilling a hole through his skull.
Frank and Malcolm return to town, and they aren’t happy. Quinn accuses Malcolm of being a false prophet. Malcolm, who seems to regret everything is ordered to kill Thomas. Andrea begs Malcolm not to hurt Thomas, but before he can do anything Frank comes out shooting and lets Thomas get away into the woods. Quinn shoots Malcolm as Thomas sneaks into the barn.
Thomas finds the goddess and her blood-drenched feeder worker in there. He also finds Jennifer, bagged up as future food for the goddess. The servant knocks out Tom, and Quinn takes Jennifer away. When Thomas wakes up, he’s chained to a meat-grinding contraption that looks really gnarly as he loses part of his hand in it. They fight quickly, and the servant dies painfully.
Thomas confronts the goddess. She says she’s been waiting for him. She does a demonic mind-meld with Thomas. We get a flashback to Quinn and Malcolm when they first arrived on the island and found her, imprisoned her, and fed her blood. The sick old goddess seems really glad to see Thomas; she says, “Free me, child.” He sets her on fire, and she still seems happy.
Malcolm wakes up; he’s not dead. He sees the barn burning. Meanwhile, Quinn has Andrea and Jennifer and spends entirely too long monologuing. Thomas stabs Quinn, who dies really hard, but not before stabbing Thomas repeatedly. They all run to the boat as the entire island starts burning. Thomas can’t make it all the way there and watches as the two girls run to the boat.
Malcolm staggers out to talk to Thomas. As Thomas dies, the grass around him grows very tall and seems to merge with him.
Commentary
The sets and production values on this were really good. It’a an hour and ten minutes before the “tunnel of blood” scene, and before that, it’s all dreadfully dull. Jeremy’s torture is pretty graphic and creative.
It’s a very, very, very slow burn. The payoff in the end is pretty good, but it was a long, painful trip to get there.