The Orchard (2022) - Horror Film Review

The Orchard is a rustic horror co-directed by Mark Wolfe and Kerry McArthur, the later also writing this. The horror here is very slight, so much so that an argument could be made for there not really being any to be truly found. This is more a drama of a man returning to his childhood home and reconnecting with old friends. Something that is fine, but not exactly what I was hoping for.

After his grandfather dies in mysterious circumstances, Lucas (Lucas Szuch) inherits his beloved cherry orchard, and so he moves back to his childhood hometown, along with his girlfriend Kate (Kate Webb). After a pruning accident causes Lucas to accidentally lose a finger, he turns to medication for pain relief. Having previously been in rehab for drug addiction, Kate fears the worst for the man. Meanwhile, Lucas has become more and more obsessed with the orchard, increasingly becoming convinced that his grandfather's diary entries about the orchard thriving on blood might hold some merit.

If I were to gather every single moment of actual horror in this film, I would probably be able to rustle up five minutes at most. Outside of some nightmare sequences, there isn't really much here. Whether the orchard does actually require blood or not is never established, it is the viewpoint of Lucas, but he is someone addicted to pain relief drugs, so he isn't the most reliable person to know such things. The horror takes a backseat to the drama of being back in an old town. The more Lucas hangs out with old friends, the more he falls into bad ways, and the more distant he gets with his girlfriend. The majority of the movie follows Lucas, I felt that more should have been shown of Kate, as while initially it appears she is going to be just as much an important character, she is relegated to a side role. Outside of a couple of short scenes of her with work colleagues, she barely appears at all, a shame, as her role being so important in the overall story means her limited appearance makes her feel like she is missing.

Special effects are used minimally, with it seeming that the actor himself has a finger missing, might not be the case, in which I would say the special effects are good. There isn't really much need for fanciful effects or camera work. There are lots and lots of drone shots, which show off the beautiful countryside to lovely effect, and there are filters used to simulate the times that Lucas is on drugs or drunk. The soundtrack perfectly matched the surroundings, but for me, I really wanted more horror. It is so suggested here that you could be mistaken for thinking it doesn't exist at all. While the story does eventually lead somewhere, it is a slow, slow burn for little reward, ending on an unexpected note which did bring things full circle.

The Orchard had a decent premise, but the story never lived up to the potential. I found Lucas to not be that interesting a character, while Kate was wasted in her relegated side role. It might look nice, but there wasn't much here to hold my attention.

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