Lord of Tears | |
---|---|
Directed by | Lawrie Brewster |
Written by | Sarah Daly |
Starring |
David Schofield Lexy Hulme Euan Douglas Jamie Scott Gordon |
Music by | Andy McDonald, Craig Sutherland |
Cinematography | Gavin Robertson |
Edited by | Lawrie Brewster |
Production
company |
Hex Media, Dark Dunes Productions
|
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
100 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Lord of Tears, also known as The Owlman, is a 2013 Scottish low-budget horror film directed by Lawrie Brewster and was his horror film directorial debut. The film first released on 25 October 2013 in Whitby at the Bram Stoker International Film Festival, where it won two awards. The film follows a Scottish schoolteacher that begins to see visions of the Owl Man, a strange figure that he was obsessed with as a child.
James (Euan Douglas) is an average school teacher that has been estranged from his mother for years and has only returned to her home to settle her estate after her death. This somewhat baffles his friend Allen (Jamie Scott Gordon), as his own father is undergoing a serious illness and is unlikely to recover. James discovers via letters that he stands to inherit two houses from her: one small and average, the other a large mansion that he is urged to never again visit. Confused, James ignores her request and moves into the house in hopes of making sense of everything as he cannot remember his early childhood but does vaguely remember living at the house during this time. Soon after he arrives he meets the beautiful American Eve (Lexy Hulme), who lives nearby in a set of renovated stables. He also finds evidence that he had a mental breakdown as a child, brought about by visions of a creature known as the "Owl Man" (David Schofield).
As James stays at the mansion he begins to fall in love with Eve while also discovering that the house sits atop a series of catacombs and that his parents dabbled in pagan magic in order to achieve fortune. He eventually begins to recall more from his past even as the Owl Man's presence begins to grow increasingly ominous, culminating in James discovering that his parents had been worshipping Moloch, who would grant wishes in exchange for a sacrifice. This causes James to regain his lost memories, discovering that Moloch had been manifesting himself as the Owl Man and that he was supposed to be the sacrifice that Moloch demanded. His parents were unwilling to offer James, so they took in an orphaned American girl as a nanny and murdered her in James's stead, claiming that as they had been her guardians, she was a reasonable substitute. James then realizes that this girl was Eve, which has the unfortunate effect of making Eve remember the events as well and turn into a menacing figure intent on driving James insane via a series of attacks. He tries to flee from the house but finds that Moloch will not allow him to leave.