‘Enys Men’ Review – A Fever Dream Firmly Wrapped In Soil, Branches And Frightening Libido

Directed By: Mark Jenkin

Starring: Mary Woodvine

Plot Summary: Set in 1973 on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast, a wildlife volunteer’s daily observations of a rare flower turn into a metaphysical journey that forces her as well as the viewer to question what is real and what is nightmare.

A psycho-sexual nightmare which has its feet “planted” in the blood-soaked soil of folk horror. This is what viewers of Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men can expect. From the outset, it is pretty clear that more casual viewers will find this movie rather boring. Those looking for a bombastic horror outing a la Scream VI will no doubt be disappointed. However, for those who tend to like the more mood-pieces in the vein of any given A24 release, then you will see the full bloom of terror presented. It’s a slow burn and Jenkin is bold in how he can take his time crafting true horror without any gimmicks.

Before getting into the full nitty-gritty, it’s worth talking about the look and feel of film. Shot on 16mm, Enys Men looks like it was some long-lost BBC project that was uncovered and then promptly dipped in a grotesquely beautiful sexual sludge. The saturated colors, film grain and scratches perfectly mimic a ‘70s film. Specifically, it recalls the 1968 BBC adaptation of M.R. James’s celebrated psychological ghost story, Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad, directed by Jonathan Miller for the Omnibus series. It achieves this in how it takes the painfully mundane and weaponizes that until it violently pulls the rug out from under you. This is all thanks to how Jenkin utilizes very clever and unsettling sound design and visuals, which build the dread to almost unbearable levels. By the end you are left frayed and completely hypnotized by the folk-spell it casts upon you. Enys Men is constantly blurring the lines between the character’s reality and fantasy.

It’s hard not to compare this to Robin Hardy’s seminal horror classic The Wicker Man (not to be confused with the Nic Cage remake). Whilst the plot is vastly different, Jenkin is able to tap into the same eerie and uncanny experience. It also makes the most of its paper-thin plot. The themes of isolation alone is fertile grounds for a slippery slope into madness. But when you factor in the element of sexual frustration, it adds just another layer to an already compelling narrative. The fact that the main character is an older woman is something we sadly don’t see in a lot of horror films. When we do see this, typically it’s an aging “has-been” in the tradition of Hagsploitations, or, more recent examples of “senior-horror” which is exactly what it sounds like.

Refreshingly, we get a mature woman (billed simply as the volunteer) that has agency and a longing that drive the plot’s subtext. She lusts after a mysterious man (credited as The Boatman), who meets with a nasty end. This kind of rich melding between folk horror and feminism can be also seen in A24’s Men, which is stellar in its own way. Though, this has even less in the way of actual plot, and Enys Men is best described as capturing a nightmare on film. The kind of logic that only exists in those haunting spaces of REM sleep.

Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men is a fever dream firmly wrapped in soil, branches and frightening libido. It scatters its grizzled bare bones plot through a twisted maze of desire and dread. This movie isn’t for everyone, but it’s a movie that rewards the more adventurous horror fan.

Enys Men is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Neon. 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Pwf94_XLY]