Thordur Palsson’s ‘THE DAMNED’ (2024) – A Different View

I have said several times that I am not the biggest fan of British horror. It always moved so slowly and didn’t make much sense. I like a good movie without a plot, but it gets confusing when trying to piece together what is going on in the film. However; The Damned is a bit different. It still moved a bit slowly, but you quickly found the nature of the terror. This is the second British horror I enjoyed from 2024. It seems that they are finally picking up the pace without long drug-out stories that never go anywhere.

Sypnosis

Widowed Eva (Odessa Young) lives on an island with her crew of fisherman. Everything changes in their lives as they watch a ship full of sailors sink with the crew refuses to go out and save some of the ship crew. Slowly, they realize they have opened up a personal demon they can’t control. Tension and paranoia is rampent as the guilt grows in every single member of the crew. One by one they become completely dangerous towards each other.

The Damned is one of the first movies I have seen that takes place in broad daylight. The setting of the movie surprised me. At first, I felt like I wouldn’t like this as every British horror movie ends up for me. I prepared to be let down. However, when chaos ensues, it comes in swinging. What I like about The Damned is it fits together throughout the entire film. Even if I was bored at first, I quickly changed my mind.

The Damned relies on the aspect of realism. That is sadly a bother to me, I watch these movies to escape reality. Was it completely on point to be a true story? Not really, but no one can change my mind on it. Other than that, I fully enjoyed the interesting story. I had to put my big boy pants on and give this a fair review. There are pros and cons to the idea of this being horror and not a thriller, they are actually quite different from each other, but that is another discussion for later.

In The End…

I say this movie is worth at least one watch, and if you are into reality-based horror, check it out. The Damned was built to be that way and that’s fine by me, it doesn’t thrill me. I don’t consider The Damed a horrible movie, many good points kept me interested. That is about as fair as I can be, I still enjoyed the film. It had its moments when I asked for tasteful kills without much blood. I wouldn’t consider this story to be anywhere near splatter movies, but the storyline would easily fit.

Give The Damned at least one watch, just to form your own takeaway. You may be surprised at how much you enjoy it. I was surprised by it, it may even turn into more than one watch in the future. There is not much else to say about The Damned. It was pretty straight to the point.

The film is being released in the UK on January 10th, go watch it! You can also read our interview with the director here.