Pale Horse (2024) – Film Review
Pale Horse is an Indie horror film about an up-and-coming artist who owes his success to demonic pacts and the practice of ritualistic blood letting during the creative process. Held back by slow pacing and low-grade special effects, Pale Horse has its fair share of faults and fails to deliver the shivers or shocks that horror film viewers generally expect. However, the acting is okay, and if you give this one a chance you may find you enjoy it.
The film begins by introducing art gallery worker Eve (Taylor Plecity), who becomes enthralled by the work of an artist whose portfolio is presented to her by a creepy but strangely stylish stranger named Paul (Lorenzo Leonard) who turns up one morning in the gallery. When Eve shows the portfolio to the gallery owner Vivian Stock (Eileen Dietz), she is likewise impressed and agrees to host the exhibit.
The artist’s name is Sabian Maynes (Perish Dignam) and he has some pretty strange demands: he will require the use of the gallery’s cellar, nobody is allowed to enter, and any assistants he is provided with must be blind.
Eve meets Sabian for the first time during the exhibit; the two are instantly drawn to each other, and, for reasons that are never explained, for a brief moment she is able to hear his thoughts. This episode of thought transference is not repeated, and, although it’s touched on later in the film, when Sabian brings up the subject, it adds no value to the story and appears to have been thrown-in merely to up the level of strangeness.
Unable to deny the mutual attraction, Sabian and Eve eventually give in to their passions; but the artist has another love—Erzuli Freda: the Voodoo godess of love, whose energy he needs to channel to create his art. Their ability to work together relies on the special bond they share, which is in danger due to the feelings Sabian is developing for Eve. Displaying her ability to turn on Sabian if need be, Freda (Alexandra Bard) orders him to kill Eve.
Pale Horse has a pretty decent storyline, and it’s hard to fault the quality of the acting, but, as already mentioned, the film has some faults as well. One of the most annoying issues comes into play every time Freda speaks. For whatever reason, somebody on the production team thought it would be a good idea to distort her voice, probably in an effort to make her sound more demonic. It’s a massive fail. The distortion is as unnecessary as it is annoying and can make it difficult to understand the things she is saying. However, even with the disadvantage of voice distortion an the crazy green light effect that often surround her, the scenes involving Freda are among the best in the film.
Unfortunately, by the time the Pale Horse finishes, viewers are left with too many unanswered questions. One of them relates to the episode of mind reading. It would have been nice to learn why Eve was able to hear Sabian’s thoughs and how he was aware she could do so. The relationship between Sabian and his associate Paul is also a mystery. Paul appears to act in the role of an agent or a manager. There are also strong hints that he is somehow involved with or aware of Sabian’s dark secrets. When Eve asks Paul how long he has worked for Sabian, he launches into a strange speech about how they are both at odds with the world, and how the world hides behind the faces of perfection, happiness, and fake smiles. Although this seems like it could be the start of an interesting conversation, it ends there, rendering the communication pointless.
Dignam is well-cast as Sabian and certainly looks the part. That’s not surprising. Although Pale Horse is only his second film, Dignam has plenty of experience playing demons and vampires in music videos and theater performances.
Plecity was a good choice for Eve but, to be honest, any number of actresses could have replaced her. Unlike Dignam’s character, there is no need for Eve to have the right look,
Eve may be an important character in Pale Horse, but her main function is to provide conflict between Sabian and Freda. Their unusual relationship is the guts of the film, Eve is merely a spanner in the works.
Due to the fact Sabian often paints with it, and allows female demons to lick it from his wounds, Pale Horse has several scenes that involve cutting and blood, but it’s not a particularly gory film and does not contain any scenes of violence. Nor is it scary or high in action, meaning a lot of viewers may find it lacks most of the elements they expect from horror films. Nevertheless, it’s worth going along for the ride and, although the ending is a little weak, it’s certainly far from being predictable.