The Droving (2020) User Reviews

A Solid Folk Horror

[horrorfilmonlinereviews · 5/10 · 23 September 2020]

This is the second folk horror feature directed by George Popov and written by Popov and Jonathan Russell.

Although the film does not feel derivative, we can certainly see the influence of classics of the genre, like The Wicker Man and Kill List. There is also something of Get Carter in here too.

The film is at its best when concentrating on the impressive landscapes and the main protagonist. Some of the other performers are not as strong and the climax is let down slightly by this.

However, the film has a good story and score and is definitely worth a watch for fans of the folk horror genre, who will find plenty to enjoy in it.

Better than I thought it was going to be

[fairlesssam · 6/10 · 30 May 2020]

Ex-military man Martin is investigating the disappearance of his sister after a festival called The Droving. He has no qualms in using his military training to get information out of people as needed. He tracks several different lines of enquiry which are dark and dangerous.

Daniel Oldroyd carries and makes this film good, he is strong, engaging and charismatic. The story lacks substance and depth but it has just enough of an edge to hold your interest. The characters are interesting and I think the whole concept is good and could have been developed further.

Overall it's a good British movie, well-made and engaging.

8's 9's 10's WHY?

[zrx-wannabe · 5/10 · 29 May 2020]

Had to comment. How anyone rates this an 8 9 or 10 is beyond me. Wooden acting, poorly done, just no way it should be ranked this high. Beautiful scenery, give that an 8, but as for the movie, NO! I kept watching till the end thinking the payoff might be there, but the ending is no better if not worse than the rest of it. My rating of 5 is generous!

A fine addition to the folk horror genre.

[martinianpaul · 25 May 2020]

The Droving has already been compared to The Wicker Man, Midsommer, even Kill List, plus several other "folk horror" films. And that's OK. But it's its own film, whichever category you want to place it in.

First, the setting - the English Lake District, which apart from being glorious, beautiful and haunting (watch it again to identify all your favourite spots) has its own folk legends and superstitions. Many of which are touched on here. It's a fabulous, atmospheric and immersive film in this respect alone.

Then, the imagery. Landscapes, set scenes, long static shots, all add to the scope and beauty of the film. Colours are often bright then subdued - I'd love to see this in the cinema.

The story - the word haunting comes up again, but also in turn horrific, tragic, and shocking. Perhaps a bit of a slow burner to begin, but things soon get moving. Not too shabby an ending either...

Finally, the score. It fits perfectly, whether its following the scenic shots or the more intense scenes, composer Matthew Laming has done it large and well.

If you're into folk horror, this is a 10/10. If you're into thrillers, it's still a 10/10. Give it a go, and if if ever appears in the cinema, I'll be first in the queue.

An honest review

[mmason-15867 · 2/10 · 3 May 2020]

Here's the truth. There's not much to this movie at all. I was sucked in by the high rating and overly positive reviews that must have submitted by cast and film crew. I won't give a technical analysis like an ameteur movie critic, just my sincere opinion.

The Droving was annoying from the jump due to not being able to hear the opening dialogue over the ambient sounds. At times it was so difficult to hear what was being said, I had to turn on the caption. I knew after that The Droving was starting with a negative balance and really good things had to happen moving forward to win me over.

Film is beautiful with many nature scenes. It does not appear to be low budget from that standpoint. It also has a decent pace, so I didn't fall asleep (I was close on occasions). With those things being stated, cinematographer and pace could not save this film and rightfully so!

Where the Droving falls apart, is with the story, in my humble opinion. The premise is interesting but the story is not well developed. The main character is almost as much as a mystery as the movie's story itself. The climax is very anticlimactic and evolves rapidly to an abrupt ending that left me scratching my head.

Finally, there are worse movies out there than The Droving. It had potential to be a good watch, but missed the mark majorly with story and character development. Background sound made it difficult at times to hear dialogue and ending was a total letdown; making it a film that can be bypassed for most other movie options.

"cult" movie without the cult

[videomonsterspodcast · 7/10 · 4 July 2020]

The Droving (2020) is a story of loss, grief, trauma, revenge, and the role that one's belief has in how they cope with their suffering. Without giving too much away, this film is essentially a cult movie without the cult. The Droving has many of the tropes of a cult film (mysterious disappearance, traditional festival, folklore, discrepancy between the mundane aspects of daily life and the supernatural elements of belief), but focuses primarily on Martin (Daniel Oldroyd) and his emotional journey set forth by the beliefs of another. At only 80 minutes, this film quickly gets to the point - which helps to keep the focus on "what will happen next?" rather than lingering on the mystery of what happened in the past. The great performances of this small cast bring an intimacy to this film what will keep you engaged and give you a LOT to discuss by the end!!

Great cinematography, but that's it

[jamesiha-87993 · 2/10 · 31 May 2020]

The opening credits of the movie is legit, totally fooled me. The cinematography throughout was great. But the rest was rubbish (say this in an English accent). There are so many fake reviews on here. There were at least 4 that I saw that starts, "Wow wow wow!". I can't even say it's a rip-off of the wicker man because the whole town wasn't in on it. Don't let the animal masks fool you, it's no good. In fact, the scene with the animal masks had me laughing my head off because of the poor choreography. The story is something that could be told in 8 verses in a Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark book. There's nothing too it. And the biggest mistake of this movie is the sound department. There would be "intense" or "frightening" scenes and it was almost crickets. We all know that sound effects and the score can change the mood of the movie, but this one falls flat. Don't fall for it like I did, go watch Midsommar.

Gorgeous lands and purdy accents too!

[kennyhughes · 7/10 · 15 May 2020]

I always enjoy these foreign flicks...but don't worry...its all in english. It had a somewhat indie vibe but big pretty studio looks. I thought it was easy to get sucked up into the differences of the accents, and patter, and different country. The story is edgy digging into the mystery drama trauma of what happened to a person that disappeared during a festival. It's a good watch that is refreshing to see and be in a different place, land, and way. The performances were solid which made me care. Watch a flick and take a vacation too.

Are the other reviewers friends with the cast?

[ollyfallon · 2/10 · 23 May 2020]

The good thing about this movie is that it's only 1hr 20mins long so it has minimised the amount of my life I wasted on it.

The acting in places is so poor - I don't think I have seen worse. And I have seen some bad movies. Extremely amateur in a lot of places.

The story is kind of ok but very random. That's about the best I can say about it. Definitely wouldn't recommend.

Well done!

[terelli · 7/10 · 9 August 2020]

Excellent scenery, flow of script -- progresses at right pace. Lead character develops nicely.

An honest review to counter all the fake 'in-house' ones!!!!

[p-sainsbury · 2/10 · 23 May 2020]

I'm sorry, but 9 or 10 out of 10 reviews. You're joking! The film crew and hangers on have been busy, and I was initially taken in by it. First off, the location manager and cameraman did an adequate job. That's why it didn't get 1 star. But, dear oh dear. The script is simply dreadful, and even the 'star' couldn't make anything useful out of it. The support cast were, at best, recruited from some local amdram troop, at worst, consisted of some blokes from down the pub. The 'suspense' was diluted completely by sloppy direction and editing. The flow of the film was non-existent. Scenes were either rambling and pointless, badly delivered or irrelevantly placed and meaningless. Even the 'festival' scene at the end (highlighted in the trailer)was poorly shot and delivered. This isn't a well-crafted, sinister or creepy delving into folk-horror sub culture. Sadly, it's just a pet project of a skill-less director/scriptwriter/producer who managed to get funding from some capital arts fund or daddy, and will probably continue to do so. Thank fudge it was only 1hr 20 mins Please don't believe the fake reviews. I get sick of this sort of cobblers.

Wonderfully unsettling folk horror

[candiamckormack · 9/10 · 12 June 2020]

Excellent film, with beautiful cinematography, strong acting, a chilling sense of foreboding, and a plot twist that induced an eyebrow-raising 'Aah!' at the end. Loved it.

Great british folk horror

[decackroyd · 7/10 · 12 August 2020]

Well acted, well made on a micro budget.

Typical unfair ratings for low budget cinema.

Ffo: kill list

What a waste. So unbelievably mislead by the reviews here

[febeccahaywood · 1/10 · 25 May 2020]

Absolute atrocity. Quality level is of a university project, cast is terrible, awful acting. (Spoiler) Simply the fact that the villain, an overweight electrician can outrun a trained soldier is ridiculous in itself. Such a waste of time, do not believe the reviews, they were either paid or affiliated with the cast.

a visual marvel

[thejhorton · 25 April 2020]

Visually striking from the first image of the man on the pier to to the final close up. The exterior country side shots are just lovely. Bringing you in with a false sense of serenity before hitting you with the tension. It's very deliberately paced. There's something about the tone that reminds me a bit of a Ben Wheatley's stuff, a little Kill List-esque.

The animal masks designs are really cool.

One thing that really stuck me was the music and score. The opening song is especially good and the score is appropriately haunting and eerie throughout. The actors are all solid, a few of the smaller parts are a little weak, but the leads are all good.

Revenge is never what it's cracked up to be. The emotion in the last stretch hits hard. and loved the end (no spoilers) Big recommend.

Other reviews are misleading

[Samebluesky · 2/10 · 24 May 2020]

'Well conceived but poorly executed' best sums this film up. The acting was terrible, it felt like a college film. Ignore the high reviews, they are not reflective of the standard of production.

Suspenseful thriller worth a watch

[williamgway · 7/10 · 26 April 2020]

Worth the watch. I had seen this English director's past film so watched this to see what he would do next. This film was a marked improvement on a good film. The acting was superb by the lead actor. Maybe it's the accents, scenery or murky settings but I was hooked on this film. It delivered suspense and delivers well over it's budget. Worth a watch for the scenery and cinematography alone.

C'mon you know this isn't a great movie!

[dorisa1989 · 2/10 · 12 June 2020]

Honestly this film isn't worth writing a review but because of the obvious fake/paid/friends and family reviews I feel like it's needed.

Before I start I want to point out that this was not a horrible movie, I've seen worse for sure. I liked a few bits here and there and the general premise is good. However, there were a lot of things that didn't work for me. I would have given it 4 stars if the ending wasn't so unsatisfactory. I also think the run-time could have been cut back some without losing any major plot points.

The scenery was pretty in some shots but I believe they should have been shorter and I don't watch movies for the scenery. The acting was mediocre at best for most of the cast. Jonathan Lawrence Risdon as the Hermit was absolutely horrible - had to fast-forward.

Spoilers past this point ****

Martin (Daniel Oldroyd) was not very believable in his role. He did okay with dialogue and fake out scenes but when he was supposed to be menacing or tough in any way it was laughable. He isn't physically built for this type of roll and he doesn't have the look or personality for it. We don't get much backstory but we get enough to know that he's supposed to be able to torture information out of people and has done so professionally for some time. So why did he mess up when getting revenge?

Why did they choose the Husky mask as the cover when it's in the movie for about 5 minutes?

Were we supposed to care about what happened to the sister when all we did was watch her drink wine? Why was her boyfriend even in the movie? His lines were pointless.

Why did Martin march up to Tess's house like he was going to bust through the door when he found out she may have had more information about his sister's disappearance and then just have a regular conversation? Sure, he made some threats but they weren't believable.

Why did we have to watch him eat a couple slices of apple for minutes? Was it to show he had a knife? How did the gang not see the knife? That's all you're going to eat before hiking all over the place? I didn't mind the fight scene since this was obviously low-budget, it was timed pretty well, and I'm sick of the typical "fight sounds" that you here in blockbuster movies. It was still laughable but I'll let that slide.

So then the guy that claims everyone who believes the legend is a psycho just switches over to psycho too at the end? What a waste of time!

Very Well Told Story...Albeit Somewhat Familiar..

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 7/10 · 10 May 2020]

+1 Star for the opening sequence which caught my attention

+1 Star for the waterboarding scene

+1 Star for the bad guy not being a complete idiot

-1 Star for Being a little bit short on content (yep I'm oddly picky)

Okay this was a surprising little film. I liked the story and the way it was told and the setting it was told in. I've seen this story told before, and even tho I didn't exactly expect the ending, I wasn't surprised by it. But really this was a good watch for me. Definitely a suspense/ thriller type movie. Good job on this one.

So bad it's bad

[psyberwyche · 2/10 · 17 February 2021]

The good points of this film start and end at the locations. All of the actors are unconvincing amateurs, with cringey delivery of a poor script. The lead actor is completely unconvincing as a hardened military vet. The fight choreography is terrible. Most of the plot, such as it is, gets delivered via exposition by an old man in a shack (but he's so bad he may as well have been reading his lines off post-it notes). And then just when you think it might actually kick in and we might finally see this 'droving' festival everyone's been talking about for 80 minutes, the film ends.

At least it's short, I guess.

The reviews have to be fake. Friends and family of the crew maybe? One to avoid.

Such scenery!

[MrTLDR · 7/10 · 23 February 2021]

I love movies about ancient traditions and how they survive in the modern age. This is a good movie, good story and well told but surely the star of the film is the spectacular scenery.

TLDR: Not quite the Wicker Man.

Terrible on so many levels

[carlblackledge · 1/10 · 17 February 2021]

Maybe I was expecting another modern day wicker or something but this is no such film. The dialogue is poor. The acting is very wooden and forced. The only good thing about this film was the location's scenery. Not worth watching for anything other than that. And of course that isn't a great reason to watch a film.

Modern Folk horror revival success

[sah-24303 · 9/10 · 12 June 2020]

Excellent almost Claustrophobic folk horror,acted well.This unites the two tropes of Folk Horror-Human(Witchfinder General,The Wicker Man,Kill List) and the Supernatural (Blood on Satan's Claw), with an ambigious ending-is the man at the end just a man?-or something more akin to the Devil himself? Is the horror human?-or really Supernatural?-We don't Know and that's what makes it so good.Our Hero gets the runaround much like the policeman in the wickerman but the ending maybe not as cruel-or perhaps worse.There is even a Monkey Paw vibe-what would you do to bring back a loved one?-How far would you go.The blending of the traditional and modern makes this Folk Horror Revival well worth a look.

Good movie, a bit short but I thought it was entertaining

[pipo- · 6/10 · 22 February 2021]

Movie was entertaining, kinda short on the script, we know he is trying to find his sister (we don't know if shes missing / dead and not found or was found...etc), I would of liked to have seen more backstory about the folklore and what the droving was about, maybe some more hiking and scenery shots...

overall I did enjoy it I think the original movie cover put a lot of people off since there is really not many mask wearers in the movie and they didn't even play a big part.

6/10

Not only a homage to a classic film, but a piece work that holds its own as a slice of dark, cold, chilling primal nastiness.

[mwilson1976 · 5/10 · 22 May 2020]

Director George Popov follows up his debut feature Hex with another slice of low budget folk horror, this time taking inspiration from Robin Hardy's classic The Wicker Man with elements of Dead Man's Shoes and The Kill List thrown in for good measure. Daniel Oldroyd plays Martin, a returning soldier on a mission to locate his missing sister in the beautiful countryside of Penrith. His military background involves some interrogation techniques which he puts to good use (a local hermit is waterboarded in his remote mountain hut) to discover that she vanished during a local festival known as 'The Droving'. The movie combines folklore with mystery, and is a big step forward in terms of production for Rubicon films who specialise in independent filmmaking with a fairytale and folklore slant. Director of Photograhpy, Harry Young, and camera operator, Richard Suckling, deserve a lot of credit for their work on the film which is beautifully shot throughout, from the wide expanse of the countryside to The Wicker Man esque droving parade itself. It is let down by some poor performances from the supporting cast, but the filmmakers manage to succeed in paying homage to a classic film, and also demonstrate a great understanding of the dark, cold, chilling, primal nastiness that made Folk Horror connect as a sub genre in the first place.