The Beast of Xmoor

Moviecut—X Moor

source: X Moor

Directed and written by Luke Hyams, and starring Nick Blood, Mark Bonnar and Melia Kreilling. This 2014 Horror film suggests it was made on Exmoor (North Devon, UK) but do not be surprised to find that if you have been there you won't recognise much as it's pretty much filmed in Northern Ireland. The film has a reported budget of £1m and a runtime of 76mins. With a potential beast on the loose this film promised lots of thrills in the dark, which should be plenty enough to tantalise horror thirsty audiences. This film sees some documentary makers, Georgia, and Matt, going into the woods to investigate the fabled beast of Exmoor that lives in the North Devon moor. The beast is supposed to be something akin to a wild cat, maybe a puma, a panther, or a lion. Either way there is a £25k reward being offered by a local newspaper for the beast. The pair of documentary makes meet a hunter who agrees to be their guide in the woods, he is eager to help because he believes the beast is hungry for human blood. They soon discover putrefying body parts stacked up and realise that it probably is not a beast that is responsible for the bloodshed and carnage. A struggle soon ensues as Georgia and Matt fight for their lives to make it free. This film started off well but seemed to drop in standards as it advanced. I began to wonder if the screenplay started as an idea which was fleshed out during the shooting process. It was a dark enough film with bits and bobs of tension, but it did not fully have me gripped. It probably looked better than it played out. The acting was decent without ever been good, but I have to say that I never really bought into any of the characters. They were not really that loveable or enjoyable, the annoyed me at times - and of course they made bad decisions throughout the film. Yes, this is typical horror hunt and hunted film, so expect the stars to make lots of bad decisions which is how the tension is made. I liked that the film gave us the Reality vs Myth, showing that when there are rumours of a supernatural beast it is probably just some random guy. However, by the end of the film I was left wishing that there had of been a beast roaming around. All in all, I can think of a lot of other films that do the same but a lot better. As such this is not a film that I'll be going back to anytime soon and I can't really rate it that highly at all. 4/10

Georgia (Melia Kreiling) is an undiscovered creature hunter. Matt (Nick Blood) carries the equipment. She wants to hunt a large cat that has been killing animals on Xmoor and there exists the fuzzy picture. She has hired as a guide a man named Fox (Mark Bonnar) who comes across as mentally unstable. When they get deep into the Xmoor, it turns out that Fox has a slightly different plan as their trust in him diminish and they discover there is more out there in the Xmoor they need to worry about other than a big cat. The film starts out as a typical film that one might expect from the hand held genre. Then everything happens at night. The film took several twists which could have made it more interesting, but didn't. Guide: F-bomb. Sex. No nudity. Plot Spoiler. The opening scene of a girl running in the Xmoor wearing fishnets had me scratching my head as I considered this a cheap ploy by the director. It was actually a clever clue. I only wish the film has measured up.

X MOOR is one of those cheap digital horror flicks which seems to consist entirely of a bunch of annoying characters running around and screaming at each other. The screaming is incessant and irritating, and the characters are irritating in the extreme, without one likable part (or actor) in the whole movie. The setting is Exmoor, where a couple of researchers are looking for a big cat but find some disturbed individuals instead. I don't know about you, but I care nothing for these dull, greyed-out horrors with their attempts to make you jump, and this Northern Irish effort is as routine and uninteresting as the next.

We've hardly got to know American documentary makers Matt (Nick Blood) and Georgia (Melia Kreiling) before they are set upon by two shady looking characters late one night, as they are driving down a rainy road in North Devon. They are responding to an award of 25k to capture proof of wild big cats that have been roaming the area, and a petrol bombed car is presumably some local deterrent. As is often the case in Irish films like this, the location is wonderful. Bleak and rainy farmhouses filmed in gritty imagery, and endless roiling, grassy landscapes never fail to impress, and events become very interesting when tracker Fox (played by the excellent Mark Bonnar) is introduced and acts as a guide for the two across the moorland, immediately dismissing the 'big cats' theory. As Fox's impetuous nature increases along with the rising body count, the reactions from Matt and Georgia are hilariously real – although this is far from a comedy. The bodies have had their hands tied, and they realise that the true serial killer is human. Could it actually be Fox? The negatives of Xmoor: Firstly, some of the night-time scenes are simply too dark. Rather than conveying a feeling of panic and disorientation, it is just annoying that we cannot always make out what is going on. Secondly, why do the two leads have to be American? I ask this purely because the actors are not and, whilst both do a fairly good job, it is still noticeably feigned. Sadly, despite a promising start, things deteriorate as the finale draws closer. The second half of the film attempts to pile twist upon twist in a bid to constantly pull the carpet from under the audience's expectations. A couple of these are fine, but it becomes too much, a muddy series of shrieking and mild gore (getting rid of Fox, the most interesting character, so early on, is questionable).

First - and yes THIS IS A SPOILER - the film is a bait and switch. It's not about a killer panther, but a human killer. Thankfully they let you know within the first act, which means some viewers will make the wise choice to put something else on. It would suck if they paid for it and got swindled, but at least they could save themselves some time. I found it on Netflix and, unfortunately, decided to stick with it for the rest of the runtime. Basically the whole thing is annoying characters making infuriatingly stupid decisions over and over. And over. And the events of the last fifteen or so minutes feel like they were drawn out of a hat - just completely random stuff lacking any trace of forethought. So, don't waste your time.

I went in expecting some cryptid movie, or at least to see some idiot college kids get ripped apart by some panther with mange. It tries to go in on that premise, but about halfway through switches to a poorly executed "The Most Dangerous Game" "spooky ambiguous killer" type movie. Most everyone save for Vanya is completely useless, at least their panic is believable, I'll give them that much. It goes off on plenty of "mysterious" tangents that don't get solved, or if they did, you'd have to suffer through the movie a second time and wade through so much crap to find the answer it might just be easier to gouge your eyes out and forget you ever wasted your time on this movie. Maybe THAT'S what happened to the little girl's eye, she just couldn't stand the movie anymore.

This one happens to fall under the latter. Let me tell you why. OK, so first of all, this could have been a lot more entertaining. Not a bad premise. Not a bad story line or twist. The actors were decent too. The atmosphere is unbeatable as far as dark and depressing , what is more elusive and mysterious than the moors of England? OK so the reason why this movie drove me crazy? I have no idea what the writers were thinking when they wrote how some of these characters acted and what they did. I think they were trying to add suspense or tension, when it just seemed fake and really unbelievable. For instance , the relationship between the two male leads. That had to of course, hate each other because of this woman they would both die for. Yeah. That's another thing. Why do movies insist on this stupid, over played, exaggerated hero type love thing. For some unknown reason ( because to us, the audience , this woman is just another run of the mill, typical on all fronts woman.) but both men have such deep feelings for her they are " willing to protect her with my life" you know, I have lots of guy friends, I even have awesome brothers.. Not once , in my entire life have I ever had one of my friends or brothers need to tell people that they would protect me with their life , let alone actually feel that way. Twilight love stuff, like so teenage fairy tale. OK so this totally average female happens to know two men that are so deeply in love with her they both are willing to die for her. OK. And they hate each other of course, for no real reason. Anyways, moving on. They find a disturbing cache of dead bodies in the moor. OK. Here is where it gets really bothersome. Everyone freaks out and throws up. And that amazing woman? Acts like a total lame for the next half hour. Screaming. She suddenly decides she needs to run a mile screaming. Away from her friends. I get it. I've actually seen people react like that to stressful situations. But in this instant it was over dramatics big time and not realistic - she wasn't armed and it was dark and her only friends ? She ran away from them . Just don't see that happening - scared so you run away from the two guys who are willing to die for you and have guns out Into the dark woods . OK , so then , they get to the tent. Now they know some serial killer is out there. Of course she promptly starts to yell. About something meaningless and stupid. I'm just going to highlight some of this amazing woman's stupid acts. They see their friend get stabbed. They run. She sees her boyfriend on camera and the serial killer looks like he killed him before the camera shuts off. She runs out with a flare screaming for her injured boyfriend who couldn't run to her even if he didn't have a serial killer stomping on his head ( sprained ankle) of course the guy comes and shoots at her. OK another dumb thing? She finally gets to where she is pointing the gun at the serial killer and guess what? Doesn't shoot him. She decided to ask him what he did to her boyfriend. Who of course this guy doesn't know who Matt is. Real thoughtful. She needs to scream at him so much, that of course he gets away, but not before he stabs the poor victim that is alive. And really kills her. OK more dumb stuff. When she finally has the you know what's to kill him? Opps. Not him. Oh this movie. Gloria, your character ruined the movie. Nothing you did made sense. Nothing you did worked. She should have been killed first. I hate it when they just don't put thought into it . .

A dark fog rolls over the moor. With a few quick cuts, the audience is placed in the shoes of a woman running for her life from a monster. The lighting is terrific, and the music ratchets up the tension till you can feel your heart racing in your chest. She screams at the top of her lungs, and then the scene ends. One could expect a beginning like this to be part of a creature feature, but instead "xmoor" is something entirely different. What starts off as a pursuit of a mythical cat turns into a game of cat and mouse from a demented rapist. I would not recommend this movie to anyone who dislikes disturbing content, because once you make it past the very methodically paced beginning, the plot spirals into a dark, sadistic hole. Although there were no blatant scenes of torture or extreme violence before I stopped, there was enough here to make me cringe. Below are the reasons I could not force myself to finish this film. 1. The murderer is a serial rapist, and it is referenced that the killer pleases himself with the corpses of his victims. 2. One of the main characters is aroused by the site of one of the dead women, and a very strong, sexually perverted reference is made as to his actions regarding the corpse. Overall, I thought the film was technically well produced, but very disturbing. I have hope for these developers, if they could produce something that did not contain such strong, disturbing content. Viewers beware, if you are in the mood for a nice, thrilling roller coaster of a thriller, look elsewhere. This is a slowly rising, tense, disturbing film that I would not recommend for the faint of heart.