The Reel Review
When a woman living in an isolated, Puritan-like religious sect kills her abusive husband, she unwittingly unleashes a supernatural entity with a taste for evil men, which in turn prompts a paranoid witch hunt led by her own father, who is also the community’s pastor. Emma Appleton (Lola) and Toby Stephens (Lost in Space) star in this British folk horror.
The Severed Sun is more about setting a creepy, foreboding mood than it is anything even remotely terrifying. Writer/director Dean Puckett, in his feature film debut, showcases some exceptional cinematography and an equally exceptional score, both of which help offset some over-the-top acting/shouting from his supporting cast that borders on hilarious. There is enough gore to satisfy the gorehounds, although the sexual relationship between the new widow and her stepson feels like a pointless, cringey distraction.
The monster, while effective, isn’t really anything new, as the at times twisty story about female revenge against male-dominated religious extremism lumbers towards a predictable yet still satisfying ending.
REEL FACTS
• The Severed Sun is based on Dean Puckett’s 2018 short, The Sermon.
• Since portraying the beast in The Severed Sun, James Stanton has also appeared as Satan, the father of the anti-Christ, in 2024’s Apartment 7A and as The Jackal in 2024’s The First Omen.
• The Severed Sun was filmed on Bodmin Moor, in Cornwall, England.
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