''Moloch'' is a 2022 Dutch

folk horror Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of natu ...

film directed by Nico van den Brink, starring

Sallie Harmsen Sallie Harmsen (born May 2, 1989) is a Dutch actress having had roles in '' In Real Life'' for which she won Golden Calf for Best Actress at the Netherlands Film Festival 2008. Harmsen appeared in ''De Geheimen van Barslet'' Golden Calf for Best A ...

and

Alexandre Willaume Alexandre Willaume (born 20 December 1972) is a Danish actor having had roles in ''Home Fires (British TV series), Home Fires'' (2016), ''Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets'' and ''The Last Kingdom (TV series), The Last Kingdom '' (2 ...

Plot

The film focuses on 38 year old Betriek (

), who lives with her family in a house on edge of a peat bog in north

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. The family's relatively peaceful existence is shattered one day when a mysterious stranger attacks the house one night, setting off a string of unexplained events that Betriek attempts to unravel the mystery of the stranger. All the while, an ancient evil lurks deep within the bog.

Cast

as Betriek *

as Jonas *

Anneke Blok Anneke Blok (born 24 December 1959) is a Dutch actress. She won the 2008 Golden Calf for Best Actress award for her performance as Anne in ''Tiramisu Tiramisu ( it, tiramisù , from , "pick me up" or "cheer me up") is a coffee-flavoured It ...

as Elske *

Ad van Kempen Ad van Kempen (born 12 July 1944) is a Dutch actor. He performed in more than forty films since 1974. Selected filmography External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kempen, Ad van 1944 births Living people 20th-century Dutch male actors Dutch ...

as Ton * Noor van der Velden as Hannah * as Sonja * Edon Rizvanolli as Radu *

Jack Wouterse thumbnail Jack Wouterse (born 17 June 1957 in Soest) is a Dutch actor. His career as a movie actor took off with his role in the 1992 film ''The Northerners'', directed by Alex van Warmerdam. Wouterse made his international debut in an episode o ...

as Hans * Phi Nguyen as Lennard * Willemijn Kressenhof as Dr. Mensinck * as Roelof

Release

The film was released in theatres in the Netherlands on 19 May 2022.

Reception

On review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 16 reviews. Kurt Halfyard of ''

ScreenAnarchy Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films ...

'' called the film a "bonafide gem of a horror movie" and van den Brink a "filmmaker to keep a very close eye on." Kevin Toma of ''

de Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized c ...

'' rated the film 4 stars out of 5. Whang Yee Ling of ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...

'' rated the film 3 stars out of 5, calling it a "well-crafted exercise in dread" and wrote that van den Brink "turns an over-familiar tale into a uniquely local folk horror." Roosje van der Kamp of '' filmkrant'' wrote a mixed review of the film. Jon Mendelsohn of ''

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

'' wrote that while the film "plays with interesting ideas and spends time with its characters", it "can't seem to blend everything together into a concrete whole" and "final product is a bit unsatisfying."

References

External links

* * {{rotten-tomatoes, moloch_2022, Moloch 2022 films 2022 horror films 2020s supernatural horror films Demons in popular culture Dutch horror films Folk horror films