Daughter of Dismay (2019) User Reviews

Audience of Dismay.

[BA_Harrison · 1/10 · 25 August 2019]

Daughter of Dismay is the first narrative short film to be presented in 70mm IMAX -- quite the technical feat apparently. Sadly, it's not such a great artistic achievement: a nine-minute tale of magick and witchcraft that is extremely sleight in terms of narrative, and dreadfully dull in execution. Writer/director James Quinn's highly pretentious approach to his mundane subject matter - languorous shots and portentous imagery - make Daughter of Dismay a chore from start to finish.

According to Quinn, the intention is to flesh out this short to feature length: I shudder at the thought.

Daughter of Delight

[Shanthamassian-1 · 10/10 · 29 August 2019]

I was invited to a special screening to the IMAX headquarters to see this beauty in its full 70mm glory. The minimalistic story treats the audience intelligently, with carefully crafted "show don't tell" filmmaking, intriguing and drawing in the viewer.

The juxtaposition of a small scale story on an immense canvas of an IMAX screen shows that there are no limits to how we can experience films. James Quinn is a fearless pioneer and I can't wait to see what he does next.

A brooding meditative slice of folk horror

[craigjohnsontraining · 10/10 · 29 August 2019]

James Quinn's Daughter of Dismay is a hypnotic folk horror poem that touches on themes of grief, loss and sacrifice in its all too brief 9 minutes. Reminiscent of The VVitch but also calling up the spirits of folklore and fable, this film shows Quinn as a talent to watch and I look forward to seeing what comes next

Excellent short

[benjaminstarklisw · 10/10 · 31 October 2019]

James Quinn made another excellent short with beautiful imagery and extremely entertaining too view. He managed to tell an intriguing story with minimal dialogue. Creating a short on beautiful 70mm is quite a feat.

10/10 An excellent film

[pabittrakc · 10/10 · 18 October 2019]

I've seen the film twice at film festivals and I'm usually not a fan of horror movies but I loved this film. I was amazed by how the director built up the emotions in the film. Especially with the lightning. I saw it first in Karlsrühe and was so touched by it. To tell this story so well in this short amount of time is impressive. It feels like it's longer because it's so intense. I must also admit that when I saw it again in Bradford I was so surprised that it was in colour, I could have bet on that it was a black and white film.