Older Gods (2023) Review

Sometimes, you just want a God that’s older, or maybe you just want a really mini small-cast movie.

Older Gods is a child of necessity. How to make a movie with limited resources during a pandemic? It’s also partly inspired by the COVID period’s alienation and awkward internet video communication.

But Older Gods is not about a pandemic. It’s a Lovecraftian cosmic think piece, as one man investigates the legacy of a friend who got too close to a weird and violent cult. The tiny cast film relies mainly on a single character, Chris (Rory Wilson), who journeys to a remote cottage in Wales to sort out the meaning of the death of his friend Billy.

Billy and his nomadic team of researchers had chased the cult around Eastern Europe, inevitably becoming entangled with the cult and its series of horrific murders. Voiceovers and phone messages let us know that people thought Billy had lost his mind. While Chris wants to discover what happened, his guilt about not being there for his friend at the most critical time is overwhelming.

The cult consists of people whose constant ruminations about the meaninglessness of their existence in an overwhelming universe have cost them their sanity. They urge those they encounter to open the door to the voice of their God, The Origin. Bloodshed ensues.

Concerns about the minuscule relevance of our lives to the larger universe are central to the cosmic philosophy espoused by H.P. Lovecraft and explored in his most famous works. Cosmicism makes for a thinky sort of horror or sci-fi movie, ideal for small casts and low budgets.

While relaying backstory through cell phone messages and videos is undoubtedly realistic for a contemporary drama, it’s not all that effective. We get that Chris’s wife is upset because she has no idea where he has gone while she’s about to have a baby. But we don’t quite get the backstory on Chris’s relationship with close friend Billy, which is crucial to the story.

Once ensconced in his rural hideaway linked to Billy’s last tragic days, Chris begins sorting through massive piles of documents and video letters from Billy. As he begins to absorb Billy’s narrative, Chris becomes aware that a dark figure is watching him. Over the next few days, he journeys into the forest and finds disturbing sites and dead animals. Back at the cottage, the stalking incidents turn to harassment and theft.

Ultimately, Chris is drawn out of the cottage at night and must face the cult members in the forest, a frightful situation. Billy and others caught in the cult’s gravity were marked and tortured before dying or disappearing.

Older Gods is a slow burn, with many scenes of solitary video watching and contemplation, interspersed with voice messages, voiceovers, and shadowy trespassers. Lead actor Rory Wilson is constantly on screen, but only a few characters show up to interact with him in short scenes.

On the positive side, the production values are high. The cinematography is crisp, and the musical score is effective, adding atmosphere to the sparse drama. Well-executed fantasy scenes use artwork to illustrate the outlook of The Origin.

Older Gods has won awards at horror festivals and can serve as a model for low-budget horror despite its shortcomings. A small cast, a remote location, outdoor shooting, and minimal multiple-character setups can make sense. However, overreliance on a single actor and the scarcity of real-time interactions limit character and plot development.

Movie Rating:

Older Gods Trailer