Tentacles of terror, softly applied. Unforgetable film.
Gallowglass had to be one of the most psychologically disturbing films that I have ever seen. It tells the story of a beautiful woman who hides herself away from the world after escaping from a band of kidnappers, one of whom, an Englishman, is desperately in love with her. It is this man who continues to haunt and terrorize the angelic victim, after her escape, expecting her to keep a promise she made to him while in captivity. The movie overwhelms you on many levels because you never truly understand what is happening or how terrifying the situations truly are until it is too late. The film creeps into you, and it leaves you horribly chilled and edgy. Although there are no graphically violent scenes, I would say that the film is violent, as well as sexually charged. Young children will not understand it. The film is most definitely for adults in that it examines the many nuances of human relationships, motives for action and the raw emotional sensitivity of love, lust, obsession, fear, edginess, loss and betrayal. Any woman who has ever said anything or done anything, for a man, out of fear for herself, as a means of her own self preservation, will feel this movie deeply.