Shudder's Gwen is an Emotional Roller Coaster With Silent Scares
“Last night I heard something…”
When my Dad left unexpectedly leaving me and my Mom alone, my life obviously completely changed. For six months I became the parent. My Mom was depressed, in shock, ill. She spent most of her time in bed watching TV. I had to feed her, get her to the doctors, check on her constantly. It was a rough year because the tables had turned. I didn’t have time to grieve, I had to keep my Mom going. Just before Christmas she fled to England and I was left alone to figure out my own emotions, and how exactly I’d deal with spending Christmas alone. Luckily, she came home by Christmas Eve and she came back stronger. My Mom was my Mom again, and that strange few months were a distant memory.
Why am I dumping all this personal shit on you? Because I watched Shudder’s new original movie, Gwen, directed by William McGregor. And it hit me a lot harder than I thought it would.
Gwen, despite everything going on, is a tale about a young girl who is left to fend for her family and become the parent through every horrible situation you can imagine. Her father is fighting in a war, her mother is acting strange and seems to be getting sicker and sicker, and the town is pulling away from them.
Gwen above all odds goes out every day and tend the sheep, takes care of her little sister and keeps an eye on her mother. When her mother falls ill and stars having seizures, she bargains with the local doctor to get medicine.
But everything starts to fall apart. She hears strange things outside at night and one day wakes up to find the sheep murdered. She has terrifying dreams and finds her mother cutting herself and screaming. Gwen stays strong though and fights for her family.
What an incredible film this is! There’s some truly terrifying moments that caught me off guard, one particular scene involving something mundane as lightning. But damn it’s effective and well done. The movie is very quiet, there’s not a lot of dialogue. But it builds the mood incredibly and keeps you on edge even when nothing is happening. The beautiful and empty scenery helps you feel isolated and scared. While I did figure out what was really going on quite quickly, it didn’t pull me away from the story as it exploded into a terrifying finale.
The acting was *chefs kiss* perfection. Maxine Peake plays the Mother who is terrifying, frail, and somehow also strong. Her arch is an impressive one. Eleanor Worthington-Cox plays our lead Gwen and hot damn, she is phenomenal. Considering she basically carries the entire story on her shoulders, she makes it look easy.
But what I loved most was the relationship between Gwen and her mother. Something I could relate to so incredibly well that it caught me off guard. The mother throughout the film is angry and lashing out, her body is failing her, and there seems to be something almost possessing her. What we find out later is grief. This is a woman grieving who is protecting her family at her own personal cost and health.
In the tragic finale, the mother sacrifices herself to protect the family she loves. It’s a beautifully sad moment that I think will hit you hard. Is there anything stronger in this world than a mother? Probably not.
Gwen up until that point didn’t truly understand. All she saw was a mother who had seemingly given up. Gwen’s resentment slowly builds and you can see it in her body language. But in the end she sees exactly how much her mother has sacrificed which makes it so incredibly emotional.
Gwen was a lovely emotional surprise that is both beautiful and terrifying. Shudder has something really special in this film and I highly recommend checking it out.
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