The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw
In his feature follow up to sci-fi drama Empyrean, Thomas Robert Lee channels his inner Robert Eggers with this eerie tale of witchcraft. The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw takes place within a small community of Irish settlers who have taken up residence in North America. However, the settlement has been hit with pestilence and sickness, and it is only the home of Agatha Earnshaw (Catherine Walker) that seems to have escaped this cruel hand of God.
The Earnshaw farmstead thrives, leaving the villagers to shun and accuse Agatha of heresy. Distancing herself from the other villagers, Agatha also decides to keep her own daughter, Audrey (Jessica Reynolds), a secret from the townsfolk. But, seventeen years on, rumours of Audrey’s existence begin to spread and Audrey herself is fed up of being a secret.
One thing is for certain: Lee and cinematographer Nick Thomas paint a wonderful image of this tucked away community. Each shot looks beautiful and there is an almost constant haunting eeriness lingering over each frame, crafting an unsettling atmosphere. However, it’s the plot itself that becomes the one factor that detracts from the production.
With Audrey Earnshaw being the titular character and Jessica Reynolds offering a fairly good performance, it’s a shame that she is so often thrust to the sidelines of what really should be her own story. Instead, Lee chooses to meander in and out of several other storylines focusing on some of the other villagers. Which wouldn’t necessarily be a problem if only they weren’t so hit and miss.
One storyline, featuring Don McKellar, drags in the first half and plays out far too quickly in the second. Catherine Walker excels in her performance as Audrey’s mother, Agatha, but is given muddy motives and little character. Jared Abrahamson gets the best deal: he plays one half of a grieving couple, mourning the loss of their young child. Hannah Emily Anderson is the other half, and their story of grief and struggle proves a solid watch. If anything, Audrey’s insertion into their lives is more of a distraction and the pay off doesn’t feel worth it, even if it is quite creepy.
The majority of the cast feel like they’re giving it their all here – Abrahamson and Anderson, in particular, suggest they have strong careers ahead of them – and Lee shows real craft and care with The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw. However, perhaps with his next attempt, it might be interesting to see him take on someone else’s script.