DIRECTED BY KATIE BURDON   

PRODUCED BY SAMANTHA LOCOCK 

WRITTEN BY ISIS HOPE LLOYD 

LOGLINE

Mary and Scott entwine themselves during a rave in Bodmin Moor, but as the sun rises, their fate is not so sweet. A love story of fatal ecstasy twisted in Cornish folklore and female destruction sees a direct return to nature and the animal within.

FORMAT Short Film     STATUS Pre-Production     SETTING Contemporary

GENRE Fantasy/Thriller     RUNTIME 13-15 minutes     LOCATION Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, UK

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Morvoren is a Folk Horror/Romance filmed on the ancient land of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England. The story is roughly based on a the famous Cornish tale of 'The Beast of Bodmin Moor'. This unique landscape provides the film with an undeniable atmosphere.

Written by Isis Lloyd Hope and Katie Burdon; the film explores the monster within, Cornish folklore and the often grotesque feminine experience.

The film will be in Kernewek (Cornish Language) with subtitles and has already received half of its budget from Screen Cornwall.

SYNOPSIS

Scott (21) catches Mary’s (15) eye across a crowd at a rave on Bodmin Moor. Amidst the haze and strobing lights, she stands out — wide-eyed, striking in her bare-faced beauty, dressed unlike the others. Ethereal and alone. Intrigued, Scott’s friend discreetly slips something into his hand. “I’ve only gone and caught one, haven’t I,” he grins, then threads through the crowd toward her.

He leads Mary away to the edge of the party, where the Moors stretch vast and ancient under the first hint of dawn. A cigarette droops from his mouth; he spits into the grass and declares himself the “Man of the Moors.” They walk together across the rugged land. Mary is naive and seemingly shy, while Scott is loud and eager, performing for her attention. Mary becomes distracted though. Spirals begin to emerge all around: moss curling on stones, winding threads of spiderwebs catching morning light, even a swirl of freckles on Scott’s neck. Mary’s eyes widen, not in wonder but recognition. Her thoughts begin to pulse in cryptic riddles and rhymes - ancient, rhythmic. It's clear: she is not what she seems.

Scott takes her over the bog, up the steep path to the summit of the Cheesewring. At the peak, they turn to face the rising sun. Together, they scream - a rite of passage. Mary’s cry is haunting and unnaturally high in pitch.

As light spreads across the Moors, they race toward the Quarry for one last thrill. At the water’s edge, Mary coaxes Scott to jump. With a subtle smile, she slips out of her clothes and into the water - her movements suddenly fluid, inhumanly graceful. She surfaces with slicked-back hair, wide dark eyes, and lips tight with intent. Scott swallows hard.

She sinks again, leaving only her gaze above the surface - pupils so wide they eclipse the whites. Enchanted, Scott swims toward her, drawn in. They kiss. Softly at first. Then deeper. Then darker. Mary’s touch turns from tender to ravenous. She climbs atop him, charged, powerful. And in one final, fatal kiss steeped in Cornish folklore - Mary reveals her true nature, and devours her new lover whole.

TEAM

CREATIVE VISION

Bodmin Moor is a vast desolate piece of Moorlands which is pretty uninhabitable. Walking across this moorland is a mystical experience, time sort of dissolves as your body breathes in the lost history folded into the land. The landscape itself is wild, abstract and fierce - big jagged rocks jutting out of rolling hills, wind tapered trees whispering Celtic myths and legends, miles and miles of landscape that screams history through its many stone circles, mining shafts and quarries. I grew up on the edge of Bodmin Moor and from early childhood I was spun tales of ‘The Beast of Bodmin Moor’.

This piece of land attracts many types; locals, hikers, Cornish youth and ravers. It has been home to the White Goddess festival that lasted 2 weeks in 1991 held by the infamous free party group Spiral Tribe. I can never really escape the fact that this piece of land has historically brought together groups of people who are trying to escape from something and attempting to connect with something bigger. The Hurlers Stone Circle is believed to have been built thousands of years ago, a ritualistic site constructed for our ancient ancestors to worship the sun, moon and celestial bodies. This can also be said for the free parties held across Bodmin Moor over time. It is clear there is something in the connection on this piece of land and how people gather in groups on it - to dance, worship and experience something intangible. It is also worth mentioning Bodmin Moor is on the Michael and Mary Ley Line …

With MORVOREN I want to create a film that brings Cornish history, landscape and folklore to life. It is a celebration of the landscape, the myths and a re-telling of my own adolescence. ‘The Beast of Bodmin Moor’ is traditionally a big black cat that roams the moors; some believe it is a lynx that escaped the zoo or even the circus. There has been over 60 sightings since the 1980s - it is a tale well known in this part of Cornwall. I wanted to take this tale and merge it with a more famous Cornish myth, the Mermaid of Zennor, to create our character Mary.

This is also a tale of female destruction and the grotesque feminine. The grotesque is inherently associated with the feminine - bodied, earthly, changeful. Metamorphosis is part of the female experience, and we are showing you that in Mary’s character. Morvoren is all about exploring the monster within, Cornish folklore and femininity.

The nature of the script for MORVOREN is very visual - the spirals, the location itself and the fine details of Mary’s character. So much of this story is told in the strong imagery we are using. Our secret main character is Bodmin Moor itself. The vast, desolate beauty of this piece of ancient land brings so much atmosphere. I am really heroing the landscape with this film - it is all about celebrating the vastness of the Moors. Whilst filming our cast I will use a mix of steadicam and handheld to achieve the raw, adventurous spirit of their journey together.

Expect epic landscapes intercut with finely detailed tight shots of wet fluffy moss, rough granite of the stone circles and wind bent tree branches. A visual code I am applying throughout the film is the juxtaposition of big wide shots to tight intimate shots to draw attention to the different dynamics at play; the landscape, Mary’s hunt and Scott's unawareness. Little details in our characters expressions will be captured in macro shots too - I want the nuances of their characters to be shown visually. Contrasting this against the extra wide drone shots of the Moorlands will also help achieve this sense that they are alone in a place they should not be.

I am using the same sort of visual language when it comes to how we capture Mary and Scott - each character having their own look on the screen. When the camera is on Mary we will use predominantly tight frames on a wide, almost fish-eye lens to create a surreal sense of intimacy. We want the camera here to feel like it is right there with her, that we can see things Scott hasn’t noticed yet. When the camera is on Scott, we pull out and use a more standard frame. His character shows more physicality; rolling cigarettes, spitting on the land, drinking beers.

To achieve our final scene I will also use tight crops to create a sense of mystery. I am a big believer that fear is in the unknown. I never want to show Mary’s transformation too literally - it all comes down to the sound design. Visceral, skin-crawling, crunching sound design will reveal her transformation as the viewer watches Scott’s expression change from lust to fear. Tight crops might reveal small prosthetics such as texture change on parts of skin, subtle facial structure change, small gills or teeth, contact lenses and very subtle ‘growing’ fins on the back of ankles or the spine … but we never see Mary’s whole transformation. I would also like to reference more traditional horror techniques using shadow play to reveal Mary’s true form.

BUDGET