THE DREADFUL Review: Marcia Gay Harden Rules This Gothic GAME OF THRONES Reunion

Seven years after the divisive finale of Game of Thrones, the actors behind Jon Snow and Sansa Stark reunite for a Gothic tale of greed, desperation, conflicting loyalties, forbidden romance, and a demonic piece of knights’ armor.

 

But it’s not the reunion of Sophie Turner and Kit Harington that make The Dreadful worthwhile viewing.

 

Rather, a surprisingly unsettling turn from Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden and a gripping psychological thriller narrative elevate filmmaker Natasha Kermani’s latest film above the numerous missteps of its supernatural inclinations. 

 

Taking place in medieval England, The Dreadful follows Sophie Turner’s Anne, a young woman who lives with her domineering mother-in-law Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden) on the outskirts of society. Anne’s husband Seamus (Laurence O’Fuarain) and his best friend Jago (Kit Harington) are away from home, fighting in the Wars of the Roses, as Anne and Morwen struggle to survive with limited food at their disposal. Anne’s troubled yet quiet life is uprooted, however, when Jago returns without her husband Seamus and a mysterious knight begins to stalk their property.

 

Writer and director Natasha Kermani follows her work on last year’s Abraham’s Boys with another period piece horror film hindered by laborious pacing and underdeveloped story beats. The filmmaker who burst on the scene with 2020’s superb Lucky and more recently impressed with a short in V/H/S/85 begins her latest cinematic endeavor at the often-overlooked intersection of horror and medieval drama.

 

The Green Knight, Army of Darkness, and a variety of Vincent Price classics are among the relatively few films to attempt thrills and chills in the context of a medieval setting, meaning The Dreadful immediately feels refreshing compared to other contemporary horror fare. As the slow-burn narrative unfolds, however, it becomes clear that the film operates far more effectively as a psychological thriller than it does Gothic horror picture.

 

Aside from sporadic talk of a lingering demon and potentially hallucinogenic sequences of a hulking man in knight armor, The Dreadful focuses primarily on a young woman’s struggle for survival and autonomy for the bulk of its runtime. Sophie Turner, who distractingly appears far too clean and composed for a woman meant to be on the brink of starvation living in the throes of poverty, lives in small quarters with her protective yet unnerving mother-in-law Morwen, played by Marcia Gay Harden.

 

In the absence of her son, Morwen cares deeply for Turner’s Anne and treats her like a daughter, but, lurking under the surface of this kindness, is a far darker nature. Morwen’s desperation leads her to commit increasingly questionable acts of violence, which coincide with the unexpected return of Kit Harington’s Jago, a childhood friend of Anne’s and the best friend of Anne’s husband Seamus.

 

From there, the film compels with its portrayal of a woman deprived of autonomy, caught between two different, yet nonetheless domineering, personalities. Distractions caused by Turner’s overly clean and composed appearance aside, the Game of Thrones actress excels in conveying the anguish of a woman simultaneously grieving for her husband, who is pulled in completely disparate directions by the only two people in her life. 

 

But it’s not Turner that impresses most with her performance here. Marcia Gay Harden, whose illustrious career includes roles in Miller’s Crossing, Pollock, and Mystic River, slowly seeps under the skin of the viewer with arguably her most unsettling performance to date. Harden plays Morwen with a fascinating complexity.

 

From the first scene, in which she steals a pregnant woman’s jewelry, the direction of Morwen’s moral compass is up for debate. But, as the film progresses and her desperation amplifies, Morwen makes a series of decisions, ranging from questionable to shocking, that culminate in a character who truly gets under one’s skin. Harden steals every scene she features in and imbues the film with a point of conflict and tension it desperately requires. 

 

The tension of the psychological thriller dissipates, unfortunately, as the film dives into the supernatural in its third act. Much like Abraham’s Boys, Kermani waits far too late to wholeheartedly dabble in such matters, at which point their inclusion feels ill-fitting and detracts from the more grounded narrative that preceded them.

 

The film’s attempts to ramp up the spookiness and embrace its status as a horror movie largely misfire. The lore and reveals surrounding the mysterious knight that features intermittently throughout are both predictable and underdeveloped, while also detrimentally shelving the far more interesting story of a woman’s pursuit of autonomy amidst dueling toxic personalities. 

 

The ultimate resolution to the story similarly proves unsatisfactory. Kit Harrington, who is wasted in a disappointingly limited role, sees his character’s arc resolve with remarkable underwhelm. The supernatural angle to the story, introduced far too late in the game, wraps up with ease. And the audience is left with a concluding note for our lead character that, while earned, is far too predictable and safe. 

 

If you’ve heard of The Dreadful and are interested in checking it out, it’s probably because the film is billed as a Gothic horror movie and a reunion of the Starks from Game of Thrones. Surprisingly, however, neither of these elements are what make Natasha Kermani’s newest movie fairly compelling viewing.

 

A woefully underdeveloped supernatural horror story and an underutilized Kit Harington may disappoint, but a gripping psychological drama of greed, desperation, and the pursuit of autonomy, in addition to a scene-stealing turn from Marcia Gay Harden, ensure The Dreadful largely overcomes its stumbles. Come for Gothic horror and the Game of Thrones reunion, stay for the Marcia Gay Harden show and an ample dose of psychological thrills.