In Irish folklore, the Morrígan is a powerful goddess of death and war. The horror movie The Morrigan imagines her as an actual historical figure: a pagan queen massacred with her followers by Christians. A quick scene at the start of the film shows the dirty deed. The Morrígan's rage against misogyny has screamed down through the centuries – so it's a shame the film frames her not as a feminist icon but a highly conventional horror movie nemesis; a malign vengeful female to be crushed and destroyed. There is nothing to punch the air about in the end.
Plot and Characters
Saffron Burrows plays an archaeologist called Fiona who has been repeatedly passed over for tenure at her US university. When Fiona presents her radical theory that the myth of the Morrígan may have a basis in real life, her slippery colleague Jonathan (Jonathan Forbes) is made the lead on the dig. Fiona is forced to bring along her rebellious teenager daughter Lily (Emily Flain), who has just been expelled from boarding school. It is poor Lily who is possessed by the Morrígan when the archaeologists blunder into her burial chamber, unleashing demonic powers that were hidden underground by priests, like some pagan nuclear waste, 1,500 years ago.
Conventional Horror Tropes
Lily's transformation into the Morrígan is a set piece of predictable horror images and tricks: blood oozes in the bathroom sink and her hair comes out in clumps clogging the plug hole. It is particularly unfortunate that a film about patriarchy through the ages gives us a scene of a school-age character naked in the bath. The rest is your standard humdrum horror as Fiona fights to wrest her daughter back from the Morrígan, while the menfolk opt for a take-no-chances approach of total destruction. You may find yourself in sympathy with the devil.
The Morrigan is on digital platforms from 29 June.
