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Moloch (2022) is a new release from the Netherlands currently available on Shudder. The storyline follows a group of researchers who uncover a fossilized woman tied to a legend near a bog. Shortly after finding the corpse a house near the bog starts having visitors and portions of the legendary story starts happening all around the family in the house. The legend may play out at the family's home if the scientist and family doesn't work together to stop it.

This movie is directed by Nico van den Brink in his directorial debut and stars Sallie Harmsen (Bladerunner 2049), Markoesa Hamer (How to Sell Drugs Online), Edon Rizvanolli (Unwanted), Alexandre Willaume (The Wheel of Time) and Jack Wouterse (Vet Hard).

This movie has several original concepts that I really enjoyed. There are crazy intense throat slash scenes in this like you've never seen before. The storyline reminded me of Rare Exports in some ways. The settings are really beautiful and the dialogue is well written and felt realistic. The acting is solid and the horror elements are well done. The ending is absolutely tremendous. My one complaint is there are several scenes with a child in a basement and acts going on above them where if they showed the acts taking place I believe those scenes could have been even better (those scenes in this reminded me of Black Phone in a way).

Overall this is a solid addition to the horror genre that's worth a viewing. I would score it a solid 7-7.5/10 and recommend giving it a shot.

This one landed at a solid 6.5 for me and I decided to round up to a 7 as I am a bit biased towards folk horror.

The story, while a tad slow paced, was engaging and atmospheric. The plot was interesting and they kept it just slightly confusing enough to where I somehow did not see that twist at the end coming, even though I felt I totally should have haha

The acting was pretty on point the whole time, everyone seemed to have done a solid job. I enjoyed the mix of the two languages, it added another dimension to the story while also giving it a sense of relatability as an English speaker. Technically, the movie also shinned, it looked and sounded great.

The third act was by far the best part and while it took a bit to get there, the first two thirds were enjoyable as well. I think it would've been a bit more successful if they had shaved some of the dead space off or sprinkled a little bit of the magic that the third act had into the first two. Would definitely recommend.

This movie really took me by surprise. At the beginning it looks like an ordinary typical horror movies but it's not. The storyline is great until the end. The plot twist is unpredictable. Great acting. Really recommend this movie. Well done.

"Moloch" is a Dutch horror movie and that fact alone is a reason for being positive about this movie. Horror movies tend to be expensive due to the needed special effects and that is a risk for a small market as the Dutch one. So all credit for (debuting) director Nico van den Brink, who took this risk.

The horror we see in "Moloch" is based on foik tales. In this respect the film follows the earlier trend in international horror movies such as "The witch" (2015, Robbert Eggers) and "Midsommar" (2019, Ari Aster).

As is usual with folk tales the story has some typical local (in this case Dutch) elements. It is situated in the Northern province of Drenthe, in the peat areas of this province. Dutch gin features prominent in the bars and we can even see the two main characters drinking what is called "a headbutt" (a glass of beer combined with a small glass of Dutch gin). The Dutch girl can handle this better than her Danish companion.

In some reviews it is said that the power of the film is diminished by the fact that the film explains too much. I do not agree. Take for example the title "Moloch". This is a pagan God that is associated with child sacrifices. The victims in the film seem however a lot older. It took me some interpretation to find the underlying logic.

A weak point in my opinion is the fact that the film has both plot elements that are supernatural but also depends on a (pagan) ritual. It never becomes quit clear what the relationship between these two might be. In this sense a film such as "The Wicker man" (1973, Robin Hardy) is much more clear with its choice for the pagan ritual.

Finally I like to call attention to the in my opinion very strong ending. In effect the film is most scary after the climax in stressing the continuity of the cycle. A continuity very observant spectators could already have spotted at the beginning of the movie. In the farmhouse were the main character lives are a lot of family porteraits. Men are however wholy absent from these portraits. To be more specific, these portraits show (for different generations) the grandmother, the mother and the daughter.

This is strictly in the folk horror sub-genre, so don't go in expecting a slash-em-up. It takes a novelistic approach with a handful of characters who make unusual discoveries in a nearby peat bog. It's about 'digging' around for the secrets of the past and the consequences they have for Sallie Harmsen and her family.

Harmsen carries the whole movie and does a fantastic job. Give her more roles! The rest of the cast is good too, my only criticism being Alexandre Willaume's character being a bit boring and unecessary. If you cut his role out of the film entirely, not much would change. The cinematography is excellent and goes for lots of warm colours and coziness which I found refreshing.

The story unfolds slowly and as a result feels a little overlong, but it's a solid tale. It's dual language, which I enjoyed but some people don't like that (up to you). It's classic horror, much more M R James than James Wan. Thrilling? No. Scary? Not really. It's thoughtful and a bit sad. I liked it because it's an actual folk horror that isn't treated like a theme-park ride.

In Director Nico van den Brink's MOLOCH, Betriek (Sallie Harmsen) encounters several strange, inexplicable occurrences, some that threaten her mother's life. Meanwhile, in a nearby bog, ancient bodies are being uncovered by an archaeological team led by Jonas (Alexandre Willaume). These bodies all share something in common that could be related to what's happening to Betriek's family.

Is there a curse on them?

MOLOCH is a very unsettling horror film, full of omens and building dread. The supernatural elements are woven into the story in a believable way that never comes off as absurd. The characters react like real human beings who find themselves in bizarre, dangerous circumstances, not like action heroes.

If you enjoy movies like HEREDITARY, THE WITCH, A DARK SONG, or THE EMPTY MAN then this should be on your watchlist...

RATED 7/10 Language: Dutch Source: Nil

I liked this movie from the beginning to end. It is bit slow paced but the scare moments are there uniformly from beginning to end.

The Lift scene and the climax scenes are so awesome and they are still haunting. There are lot more unanswered characters and shots. But the climax make it forget everything.

Quite good horror with decent story to watch in the weekend with good sound.

-repeating for 600 chars Quite good horror with decent story to watch in the weekend with good sound.

Quite good horror with decent story to watch in the weekend with good sound.

As a fan of horror and Shudder films this was one of the better movies they have made so far. I would have enjoyed it more in English, but I will take what I can get these days. I will say the story was a little hard to follow, I thought the two old couple were together but apparently that was his daughter? It was a bit slow at times and by the time anything interesting happened it was over. So if you do not like slow paced, subtitle reading, confusing storylines of a movie. Then this will not be your cup of tea. I do recommend if you enjoy horror though, it was a good B movie.

Moloch was, for me at least, on a certain level, a somewhat dissatisfying experience.

Its well acted, with well rounded, believable characters. Its family dynamic is warm and its builds a sense of home and hearth under a supernatural cloud, rather well. Certainly its back story, is moderately eerie.

Where I think it falls down, is it doesn't offer anything, that has not, in one form or another been done before. More than that mind you, its predictable. There's no real build up, no real uncertainty. It suddenly and abruptly wraps up, in a way that is not even remotely surprising. Any any sense of genuine shock and tension is diffused. You saw it coming.

In summary watchable, well acted but wholly expected, too.

Moloch is a pretty good horror flick that has more to it than just the surface level. It does feel more in line with streaming-level movies in terms of quality and feel. But it does a good job of keeping you invested in the story and characters.

There are a few cool horror moments, including a couple that had my jaw dropped. The story comes together fairly well, although much of it is stuff we've seen before, and many times done better (watch the movie Oculus).

There is a part of the movie that is self-aware, regarding a musical track that should be played and is later used in the movie. I'm not sure if there was more self-awareness that I missed. But that musical track is really good.

Overall I had a decent time with this movie. I might check it out again at some point. (1 viewing, 4/11/2023)

Never having heard about this 2022 Dutch horror movie titled "Moloch" before now as I happened to stumble upon it, so I didn't know what I was in for here. However, it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen was essentially sufficient for me to opt to sit down and watch it.

Writers Daan Bakker and Nico van den Brink managed to put together a horror movie that definitely had an interesting atmosphere to it. However, the storyline was just too slow paced for my liking, so I wasn't getting a particular big kick out of watching the movie.

I was initially drawn to the movie from its cover/poster, because it definitely had a good atmosphere to it. And yeah, while something like that was in the movie, the storyline was just too slow paced for my preference. Not enough of anything exciting or worthwhile happened throughout the course of the 99 minutes that the movie ran for, and that made for a somewhat prolonged and somewhat boring viewing experience.

The acting performances in the movie were okay, but as the narrative also was, then the acting was also sort of sluggish and slow paced. So again, you're not in for something thrilling or over-the-top.

"Moloch", from director Nico van den Brink, is worth a single viewing, but that is also just about it. Because there is not enough contents for a second viewing. In fact, the movie just barely scraped by with enough contents for the first viewing.

My rating of "Moloch" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

If you're hesitating, just watch this film. It has a little bit of a slow build up but then provides a really unnerving folk horror payoff. I'll be thinking about Moloch for a while.

A family living by the peat bog, where everything is mummified, have a visitor to contend with, he somehow gets into the house. He doesn't come alone. This is a good fright and a story well told. The suspense is gripping and the scares are good and convincing scary. When finally they're in the safe bosom of family there's still the twist!

Run of the mill witches doing witchy things that no one believes, then understands, then can escape. Because... ancient evil.

So many interesting witch stories out there and they do the same thing over and over and over again.

Give it a chance. Definitely should have a higher rating. During the first 30ish min I was watching but also scrolling Reddit. After that...I forgot my phone existed. Even told Alexa to turn out the lights. Surprised at how good it was since I only turned it on to use as background noise. It's hard to give a review that's 600 words without giving away any of the story!! All I can continue to say is watch it, at night, with the lights out. It's a good creepy, chilling, suspenseful movie. You know the kind of creepy when you KNOW something is there but can't see it or just catch little glimpses here and there? It's like that. Watch it, and rate it so more people see it!

Dutch horror movie made in 2022. The main theme is based on the cursed spirit. Ambience full thriller environment. The weather is constantly cloudy, foggy and overcast. The event begins when an archaeological excavation team finds the thousands of years old female corpse that has remained under the ground without decomposition. Later, other bodies were found. What they all have in common is that they are women and have their throats slit vertically. While these bodies are being found, terrible events begin to happen to a family in the nearby settlement.

The tension is well presented in the movie. But there is not much of an element of fear.

There is a sexual scene in the movie, but there is no nudity.

The Nordic atmosphere and scenery were great, the acting was ok for the most part (though the English spoken scenes were a bit weird, the actors appeared to have been dubbed - not sure why it was necessary). I liked various bits of personal history, scenes of the school and the village - the contrast between the everyday life and the uncanny weird stuff "behind the scenes" always makes for a great film; sadly, I felt there wasn't enough of it here. Instead, there was a very silly CGI that was totally laughable and unnecessary - this and the final scene made something potentially interesting into a total cliché.

This is my first Dutch horror film, I think.

The film packed stylish visuals and an interesting atmosphere overall. The beginning felt simple, but it gave me hope that they knew what they were doing. It felt like someone's vision. Like they knew what story they wanted to tell.

As the film continued, I still enjoyed many details and scenes, slowly unwrapping the mystery, waiting for everything to fall smoothly into place. But this wasn't exactly what happened. The ending was simultaneously too simple and too complicated. I had to re-visit previous scenes in my head to understand what the ending scene meant.

The weakest point was probably the story and how unoriginal it felt. I thought they would do something experimental with this dark fairy tale or urban legend. But the ending just reflected some of the ideas of 'Hereditary', Del Toro's 'Mama', and other known horrors. Also, the film gives lots of details but ultimately forgets the critical relationship for this ending to work - the mother-daughter one. There had to be more scenes of them being a family.

There's nothing wrong with getting inspiration from other films and incorporating ideas into your movie. My point is that they didn't use the premise's potential to the full extent.

I can still recommend this, but the enjoyment levels may vary.

Moloch is a new horror film directed and partly written by Nico van den Brink. For this film he has only directed short films. This is his first directing work for a film that lasts longer than an hour. The film is about Betriek (Sallie Harmsen), who lives on the edge of a peat swamp. Strange things happen in the neighborhood where she lives, from a dead person to strange figures that walk around her house in the evening. Betriek goes to investigate, to discover what is going on. Together with the foreign agent Jonas (Alexandre Willaume), she learns about the mythical history of the peat swamp that is bewitched by an evil spirit, who harass surrounding residents with her presence. Together, Betriek and Jonas must try to stop this evil force before more victims fall. With this film Nico van de brink tries to make a real Dutch horror film, which makes use of typical Dutch features such as the Veen. They use historical elements such as the story of the girl from Ede. They manage to incorporate this element in the film in a creative way, but otherwise they copy many elements from other horror films. These copied moments come from lesser-known horror films, but a horror connoisseur can still recognize the moments. For them, this film is so familiar without really creating tension. In the end, it can come off as a long-winded movie. Nico van den Brink and co-writer Daan Bakker should have come up with more unique horror elements of their own, to have had a more extraordinary Dutch horror film. The visual effects are often not believable. For suspense it works better if the ghost stays in the background or in the darkness, but when the ghost comes into view more clearly you can see that this was placed in the film with CGI. This lowers the credibility and subsequently the tension level. The props they use for the bog bodies seem credible, but unfortunately little is done with them. Due to the quality of the film, the acting isn't really special either. Sallie Harmsen and Alexandre Willaume do well as the lead roles, but sometimes the film seems to be more about their relationship than the mystery of the peat swamp. The rest of the film cast also doesn't get much material to work with in the film and come across more as extras to produce the story.

This is well shot, with decent special effects and a good creepy vibe to it. I think it took several different horror movie ideas and transformed it just enough to make something original and entertaining.

The acting was good enough and the writing was sufficient. No complaints there. And I really liked how the director took the inevitable point in the movie where history had to be explained and managed to have it all come together at the part when the school play was happening. I thought that was really smart and timing-wise it worked perfectly in the movie.

If you are looking to be entertained for a couple hours this movie will do just that for you.

It's funny how some reviewers write about 'cliches' here...what, in this day and age, hasn't borrowed from the past?

Another funny review was the one who wrote that they might've liked it more if it wasn't in Dutch...i'll let you figure out the humor in that on your own...(btw...there ARE subtitles available if you're watching it with a player that can handle subs. Like a vlc player. Free to download. Great player).

I'm a big fan of taking projects on their own merits...and this one puts a number of classic elements of horror together in a way that, for me, was pleasing... having lived here, in the Netherlands, for over 20 years, it was also very refreshing to see a movie come from here containing some of the 'folksy' dynamics i love so much about this country. Not only was it set here, but it WASn't set in one of the cities...THAT was extremely pleasing.. decent story, well done. Thanks. Hope to see more from the makers of this film...

This is a painful movie. It is a very annoying mix of dutch and english dialogue, some random family nonsense, some cheesy love drama some proverbial ancient evil and so the list goes on. And none of these things are developed or focused on. It is just random stuff thrown together with horrible acting and sound work.

Feels like a students art project with a budget of 200$. A massive waste of your time.

This was a fun folk horror piece but unfortunately it suffers from, like others have said, too many standard tropes... The worst of which are the orchestral record scratch sound effect at the sight of a jump scare and some pretty weak CGI that felt a little too Goosebumps for me in design.

The acting falters oddly at parts too, but for the most part the storyline is intriguing and I didn't find it slow. I did get a little confused by what/who is actually responsible for what is happening but by the end it's clear enough. It's a worthwhile spooky adventure with a really great atmosphere. Too bad the streaming on Shudder made the whole thing pixelated, why am I paying for that again?