Atmospherically, Gwen is everything you could hope for in a periodic folk drama. The visuals are stunning, with sweeping shots that made me want to disappear into the rolling hills of Wales forever. Our plot, however, is a bit thin. The viewer is given too much information too early on and from there, spends the rest of the film waiting for the inevitable to unfold. The “humans are the real monsters” trope can be done well, but Gwen relies too heavily on this, as well as a few audio jumpscares in order to categorize itself as horror. But a strong performance from our young protagonist is enough to sweep you away with her into this melancholic, eerie tragedy.
