User reviews

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Well acted, well made on a micro budget.

Typical unfair ratings for low budget cinema.

Ffo: kill list

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.

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

+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.

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.

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.

'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.

Set in a beautiful location with a creepy Wicker Man village vibe, the tension and sinister feel slowly builds in this great indie thriller. Also really liked the opening score, it sets the haunting tone of this film well.

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