LFF Review: ‘Shepherd’
An unsettling undertone permeates throughout every single second, every single frame of Russell Owen’s feature-length directorial debut, the atmospheric horror Shepherd, a hypnotic, disturbing and visually arresting slow burn that will stay with viewers far after the credits roll.
Shepherd stars Tom Hughes as Eric, a man reeling from the sudden death of his pregnant fiance Rachel. Depressed and despondent, Eric returns to his home in the Scottish Highlands to escape the memories of his deceased wife. Finding himself unable to stay with his religious deadbeat mother, Eric comes across a posting for a job as a local shepherd on a remote island and, eager for a distraction, he immediately offers his services. Once he arrives to the island, Eric settles into a routine, dismissing the strange occurring happening around him as figments of his overactive imagination. But after his beloved dog Baxter goes missing, Eric begins to descend into a malevolent nightmare as fights to save his own sanity and confront the troubled past he left behind.
Much like Robert Eggers’ The Witch, which was an exploration of family drama filtered through a gothic horror lens, Shepherd has much more to it than initially meets the eye. It is not simply a horror film; it is also an affecting drama about a man struggling to come to terms with the death of not only his wife but also his unborn child, who he regularly sees apparitions of before he even sets foot on the island. Owen has managed to frame Eric’s palpable grief and sorrow into a harrowing and visceral visual experience that will take viewers for a tailspin.
As Eric starts losing his mind by the time the film’s third act rears its head, audiences will also find themselves squirming uncomfortably and sinking in their seats, a testament to just how perfectly Owen has managed to capture Eric’s inevitable descent into madness. Shepherd is not particularly violent or gruesome. At least not compared to some of its more recent contemporaries, such as Titane, which also screened at this year’s London Film Festival. But Owen understands that less is more, and as he uses the film’s haunting visuals, courtesy of cinematographer Richard Stoddard, and impeccable sound design by Callum Donaldson to heighten Eric’s journey throughout the course of the film, viewers will be left just as unsettled as they would be watching a more brutal film.
Of course none of this would be possible without the incredibly absorbing performance by Tom Hughes that lies at the center of the film. As the grieving, despondent Eric, Hughes turns in a career-best performance, slowly transitioning from the more reserved and constrained man who internalizes most of his feelings to an unhinged and enraged widower driven mad by his surroundings. Using merely his intense physicality and facial expressions, Hughes manages to make Eric’s grief palpable, his rage visceral. As things become worse and worse for him, they do so for us as well; his journey becomes our journey, his nightmares become our nightmares. And as the film hurtles towards its shocking final act, viewers will feel just as battered as Eric does after a long, strenuous day on the job.
Shepherd is not a perfect film; it does have its fair share of issues, including plot elements and visuals that feel derivative of some recent horror films, such as Eggers’ The Lighthouse and Rose Glass‘ Saint Maud. It may also not be the most pleasant cinematic experience, especially for an audience looking for something a bit lighter to entertain them, but it is definitely unforgettable. Viewers who dare join Eric on his journey to the island will be rewarded with an intense, haunting and visceral experience that will stay with them far after the credits roll.
Rating: 4/5
Shepherd screened at the London Film Festival on October 14, 2021. It debuts in theaters on November 26, 2021.