10 Horror Movie Trailers Scarier Than The Actual Film

This one is similar to what happened with It Comes at Night: an encouragingly vague yet disconcerting snippet builds false hope and hype for a much calmer and more monotonous time at the cinema. In the case of 2022’s Enys Men, though, the end product is barely worth defending.

The abstract folk/psychological horror slog revolves around a woman on an island near the Cornish coast whose daily examinations of a flower coincide with visions of ghostly figures and other indications of danger, depression, and cultural degradation. In a sense, it’s like combining The Wicker Man, Don’t Look Now, and The Shining but removing the plot, scares, and momentum.

That’s doubly disappointing because cinemagoers’ first peek at Enys Men alluded to something captivating and daunting.

It’s spooky from the start, with unpleasant audio – wind howling, children laughing, and foreboding radio conversations – coating quick cuts of the woman running around the island and ambiguously mischievous imagery. Some of it is played in reverse, too, for extra eeriness.

Actually watching the movie is agonising for another reason: it’s intolerably slow, repetitive, experimental, and uneventful. Basically, the woman repeats the same daily routines with too little deviation or escalation as the film tries – and fails – to increase suspense and intrigue.

There’s undoubtedly a lot of hidden meaning and symbolism beneath the surface, but that doesn’t compensate for Enys Men’s lethargic stride and complete lack of scares.