Originally published on Set The Tape
To Fire You Come At Last is one of the shorter films on offer at this year’s FrightFest, running at around 45 minutes in length. The shortness of the film works well for this historical folk horror, as it keeps things moving at a decent pace as the simple premise tries to get under your skin.
Set in 17th century England, the film centres on four men who have to transport a coffin along a long, remote walk in order to reach the churchyard. Local superstition surrounds the ritual, with stories about the devil and his minions haunting the walkway at night, and how those that transport the dead will be assaulted by various horrors.
As such, the men in the village refuse to help out at such a late hour, knowing that they’ll be out after dark, no matter how much money grieving father Squire Marlow (Mark Carlisle) offers to pay them. With only three men willing to help, Marlow’s underling Pike (Richard Rowden), his deceased son’s friend Holt (Harry Roebuck), and local drunk Ransley (James Swanton), Squire Marlow has to take up one corner of the coffin, and the four men set out onto the moor as the sun begins to set.
What follows is a series of conversations about the recently lost man, and how the four men transporting the body related to his life and passing in some way. The revelations here build up a picture of a tragic life; one where it seems like each of the men played a part in not only making it worse for him, but in his sudden and untimely death. The main issue with this is that these moments enter high drama, only to fizzle away to nothing. For example, Squire Marlow learns that Ransley used to expose himself to his son when he was a child, and as you can imagine this leads to a violent confrontation. But needing to finish moving the body the group then goes back to their task, with Marlow and Ransley chatting away as normal. It undermines the drama of the scene before, and makes the characters feel like they’re reacting in the moment and don’t really have much depth to them. The fact that this happens more than once adds to the tonal whiplash of these moments.
There are some moments of horror here too, however, and as the film goes on things get more bizarre and more horrific, with some creepy scares cropping up from time to time, though with them mostly being towards the very end of the film it’s possible to forget that you’re not just watching a period drama, but a horror film. By the time things do start to happen it almost comes as something of a relief as it means the film has finally gotten interesting.
Shot in black and white, the film at least looks decent. The lack of colour and the characters standing out as bright shades of white and grey in an oppressive sea of blackness helps with atmosphere, and in keeping the film looking interesting. The lack of colour is also used to decent effect when the horror is on screen too, with white spectral figures in the darkness working well.
To Fire You Come At Last isn’t a bad film, but it never feels like a great film either. The script has some faults in places, especially in the managing of character drama and balance of horror elements, and there are times when it leaves you waiting for something to happen. It also feels a bit mean-spirited at times too, relying on the cruelty of sexual assault more than once, and deeming one man deserving of death for falling in love with someone’s ex. Despite these issues, there’s a decent enough film here to keep you entertained for a short while, and the 45 minute length helps it to feel shorter.
To Fire You Come At Last premiered at FrightFest 2023.
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