White Settlers

White Settlers or The Blood Lands (I personally think the second title is more appropriate) is really a case of too much, too soon.

The atmosphere of isolation and creepiness set up so beautifully early on in this film is extinguished prematurely. Its a case of too much, too soon, with restraint inexplicably giving way to what can best to described as "impatient", rather clumsy storytelling.

Its a shame too, as this title had considerable potential.The characterization is good, the overall premise is sound, the cinematography is excellent and the lead actors do a fine job. Five out of ten from me.

This is your standard, move to new location, terror starts horror movie. It's really very predictable and at times very stupid (what the characters do), but I guess it all helps keeping the tension high. And in that it succeeds. The movie looks and sounds the part, even if there are bigger plot holes than it should be allowed to have.

The performances are OK, considering what sort of movie we have here. Although I reckon some might have issues seeing the main actress in a "weak" role like that, especially after having seen "The Woman". It's not that she is not able to carry that role, it's just that the role itself is weak. Script-wise that is. Whatever the case, this is bog standard fare, you might even like it

It's Sarah and Ed's first night in their new home in the Scottish countryside. Coming from the City they had a lot of money to invest in a property that the people from the surrounding area could not afford themselves.

It's a beautiful setting and the movie portrays an air of the supernatural but that's a red herring. It's actually a home invasion type movie.

The two main characters are absolutely awful from the start. Sarah is the most irritating character I think I have ever come across! The relationship between Sarah and Ed doesn't feel believable at all, there's no chemistry, no closeness that you would expect to see in a couple moving into a new home. Sarah is a nagging, selfish and irritating woman, if I was Ed I would have let her move to Scotland by herself.

As they go to bed on their first night Sarah is unnerved and hears noises. She pesters poor Ed to death and ends up outside where they find a random pig. After going back in the house Sarah hears yet more noises and again nags Ed to death to go investigate. The poor man does and doesn't come back. So then she goes looking for him.

What follows is one of the most intense cat and mouse games ever. It's such as shame that the two main characters are so badly written because the baddies and the stalking going on is/are brilliant. I couldn't bear to watch half the time.

I liked the ending, you couldn't have predicted it.

Except for the ending this is pretty much a well-made by-the-book home invasion horror tale. It looked good and the performances sold it. I was annoyed early on by the main characters... they're just the sort of rich city folk who move out to the country because it's 'charming' and proceed to ruin everything for the locals. The husband in particular seems like a self-centered jerk. Then bad stuff starts happening to them... and, though I never really found myself caring what happens to them, I did find myself rooting for the woman to at least make a good show of defending herself against the anonymous threat.

The real clincher is going to be how viewers take the ending. It's what sets the movie apart, it's the most interesting element... but it's also likely to rub many 'horror fans' the wrong way. For me it made sense and lifted the entirety of the movie to a higher level than if it had just... gone where I thought it was going.

Due to the low ratings I didn't expect much from White Settlers but then I read a couple reviews and so I thought I'll give it a go because most of the time the low ratings for horror movies on IMDb are an absolute farce. I saw so many good movies that were rated below five stars that I don't believe anything anymore on here. And for this movie it's again completely underrated. The movie starts slow but once the creepy things happen you are in for an old school suspense thriller/horror. The actors might not be well known but they certainly did their job good. For a low budget movie it has certainly nothing to envy from big budget movies. I'm glad I didn't believe the ratings again here on IMDb because I truly enjoyed this movie. Certainly worth a watch if you like creepy masks and suspense.