The last decade has brought about a vested interest in the religious horror movie, and it’s a subgenre I’ve come to love. The Severed Sun, an indie horror feature debut from director Dean Puckett, fits cleanly into this category. The film tells the story of a young woman named Magpie (Emma Appleton), who lives in an isolated church community overseen by her domineering father, The Pastor (Toby Stephens). Tired of being controlled by her aging husband (with whom The Pastor forced her into marriage), Magpie makes a tough decision that will inadvertently bring a monster into her community.
Like many, my penchant for horror based in religious trauma started with the small-budget 2015 movie The Witch. The directorial feature debut of Robert Eggers, this film would end up introducing the world to Anya Taylor-Joy and proving Eggers to be a master of the atmospheric film. Set under the oppressive and judgmental Christian regime of an unknown British town, replete with costumes that are period-appropriate for an unspecified Puritan era, The Severed Sun so desperately wants to mimic The Witch.
And if I took away one thing from the film, it’s this: The Severed Sun comes nowhere close to The Witch. Unlike Eggers’ pristine, тιԍнтly written film, Puckett’s feature perambulates and stumbles through its themes in a much clunkier and overly obvious manner. Its flaws are plenty and they tend to be as overt as the spelled-out script. That said, I could not help but enjoy The Severed Sun, and find it to be a promising debut feature.
The Script & Score Are Absurd (& I Wish The Severed Sun Had Leaned Into It More)
This Might Have Worked Better As A Comedy
Perhaps the biggest flaw with The Severed Sun is its script. The characters seem to speak to each other in religious buzzwords, constantly calling Magpie a heretic without delving deep into the interpersonal issues. That is, Puckett — who also wrote the film’s script — does a lot of talking about religion without actually delving into it. Puckett takes a maximalist approach to the movie’s religious undertones, inundating the audience with keywords but failing to explore topics with much nuance or depth. The film’s sparse and random inclusion of expletives also felt out of place script-wise.
This over-the-top dialogue is coupled with an overbearing electronic score that adds a sense of melodrama to the film. The music is an anachronism that was underutilized; it could have created some interesting contrasts with the traditional setting if employed more artfully within sequences rather than as an overdone transitional tool. It was not a bad score per se, but it was not effectively done.
These are very director-influenced performances that are able to achieve a sense of unity that makes the world of the film more believable.
That said, I don’t think these qualities were necessarily a detriment to The Severed Sun on an enjoyment level. Some scenes (likely unintentionally) made me laugh out loud. I will not spoil the context, but a moment where one religious zealot yells out “GET BACK TO HELL!” without cracking a smile was particularly a standout. Curiously, the film could have worked more effectively if it leaned into the very thing holding back its quality: its overstated moments. The film could have transformed from straight horror into comedy horror, something we have not seen often in the religious horror space.
Despite The Stumbling Blocks, This Is A Confident Directorial Debut
The Cinematography Is Stellar
Though I started out feeling the weight of the stark difference between Eggers and Puckett, I left noting how promising the latter director is. Sure, the film could have used a better script. For an 80-minute movie, I was surprised at the times when certain plot points seemed convoluted, indicating how things could have been done better.
But even when it stumbled, the confidence of Puckett’s directorial vision cannot be ignored. From the very first frames, my attention was captured by the well-lit, delicately composed cinematography. Working collaboratively with director of pH๏τography Ian Forbes, Puckett transports us into this bucolic but sinister landscape with immediacy. For a first-time feature director, it is pretty stunning visual work.
These visual strengths are emblematic of what makes this a strong directorial debut: Puckett is confident in his choices. Even if the dialogue itself could have used punching up, the acting is actually quite strong. All the performances exist in this stylized and theatrical register and are a testament to Puckett’s vision. These are very director-influenced performances that are able to achieve a sense of unity that makes the world of the film more believable.
The Severed Sun ensemble embodies the oft-used youth theater phrase of “there are no small parts, only small actors.” Everyone on this creative team is punching up all their line deliveries, whether they be lamenting their husband’s murder or begrudgingly piling onto mob mentality when lamely uttering “it’s an abomination!” Building to a fairly satisfying conclusion, The Severed Sun is scattered, but Puckett makes sure that it is confident chaos.
The Severed Sun is now playing in theaters and is available on demand.
