A well formed horror

Rating: 7/10 (3 January 2020)

Some spoilers here. So this is a "strange community" horror, like Children of the Corn but without the evil deity figure. The movie gives a colorful and plausible depiction of a naturalist community, ie. Druids or similar whose rituals are based on the seasons, plants and animals. That gives the horror a base, a backstory that makes the overall story a little better than say, Hereditary, which just sort of dumped a supernatural explanation on the audience at the end.
The psychopathic disregard for outsiders is the main horror feature. Real insular communities are said to bring in strangers for the DNA diversity for breeding so that part is realistic. The end of life ritual is interesting and not unrealistic considering cultures that starve out elders in times of hardship. This was just a step further. The rest of the treatment of outsiders wasn't really explained or of some obvious value to the community. The human vivisection in the chicken coop suggested the person was still alive and several visitors just disappeared with just a flimsy excuse to the remaining. I suspected that the "pilgrimage" process mentioned was basically this, to go out and bring back some sacrifices. So the story didn't quite tie up the loose ends but the rich visuals and vocals of the people presented a better basis for the story than many horror movies.