When Silence Becomes the Loudest Threat

MOVIE REVIEW
The Severed Sun
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Genre: Folk Horror
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 1h 20m
Director(s): Dean Puckett
Writer(s): Dean Puckett
Cast: Emma Appleton, Toby Stephens, Jodhi May, Lewis Gribben, Barney Harris, Oliver Maltman, James Swanton
Where to Watch: in select theaters and VOD May 16, 2025

RAVING REVIEW: Moody, meditative, and stubbornly opaque, this eerie descent into rural isolation starts with a whisper and never quite raises its voice—but that’s part of the tension. It’s less about startling the viewer and more about creating a slow, creeping discomfort. This isn’t a horror story filled with grand reveals or scream-worthy moments; instead, it lives in a space where questions matter more than answers. That’s both its secret weapon and its biggest gamble. It’s also been a little since I put my 2.5-star rating into context; this is a perfect example of a film I didn’t love but didn’t hate. It wasn’t for me, but that doesn’t mean it's bad. Some people will adore the experience!

THE SEVERED SUN is a film that draws from the folk horror toolbox but rearranges the usual pieces. Its setting—a cloistered, unnamed community ruled by tradition and religious authority—is timeless by design. There’s no modern tech, no visible markers to pin the story to a specific era. It could just as easily be a reclusive 19th-century farming village as a post-collapse dystopia. That ambiguity feels intentional, creating a thematic space that resists easy classification. The real threat here isn’t the supernatural; the suffocating moral order leaves no room for deviation.

From the first moments, it’s clear that Magpie, the film’s central figure, isn’t content to follow the script her world expects of her. She’s not on some sweeping mission of revolution, though. Her resistance is personal—quiet, calculating, and often unnervingly detached. Her decision to take control of her life, through one irreversible act, ripples through the community and shifts the tone from domestic drama to something far darker. It’s not about a monster being released into the world, but rather the emotional consequences of what happens when someone dares to break the rules in a place where the rules are everything.

That’s where the beast comes in—a lurking presence more symbolic than literal, always lingering out of full view (thank you!) Its design borrows from folk iconography, looking like something carved into a tree hundreds of years ago. And like many aspects of the story, the creature never fully materializes into a plot-driving entity. It’s a background figure to reflect the fears and anxieties of those who think their tight-knit world is starting to come undone. It’s less of a character and more of a metaphorical alarm bell.

The push and pull between Magpie and her father, a domineering preacher who governs the community with quiet confidence, gives the film its most compelling tension. Their relationship is built on an uncomfortable blend of religious obligation and pressure, and much of the story plays out in the friction between their expectations of each other. He’s not an overt villain, but that makes him scarier. His authority comes from a belief in his moral clarity, which lets him justify nearly anything, so long as it preserves the order he sees as sacred.

Visually, the film delivers on the atmosphere. The cinematography captures rural landscapes as both idyllic and unsettling. Open fields feel restrictive, and dense forests become spaces of danger and liberation all at once. There’s a distinct lack of artificial lighting, with scenes often unfolding in candlelight or the natural glow of early morning. It creates a lived-in realism that helps ground the more abstract elements of the story.

What ultimately works in THE SEVERED SUN is its tone—a commitment to ambiguity and discomfort that doesn’t blink. It’s not an easy story to pin down, and it’s not interested in handing the audience every piece of the puzzle. That works if you’re ready for a story that values feeling over explanation, and presence over plot. It’s the kind of movie that trades big twists for small implications, relying more on its themes than on dramatic set pieces.

However, there are moments when that restraint becomes a limitation. Some scenes feel less like organic narrative parts and more like required genre check-ins. A few characters feel abrupt, lacking the build-up they need to connect. Even the supernatural elements, while well-crafted, come off as underutilized. 

THE SEVERED SUN lands between an intimate character study and a mythic allegory. Its strength lies in the questions it raises about control, belief, and the price of silence. While it doesn’t always reach the depths or clarity it hints at, it still leaves an impression. And that quiet lingering feeling—something isn’t right or just out of view—isn’t easily shaken off.

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[photo courtesy of DARK SKY FILMS]

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