Review by J1 reporter Molly McChesney

Three words I would use to describe this movie are hatred, revenge and conflict.

This movie is called “The Banshees of Inisherin.” It came out in 2022 and you can watch it on Hulu, Sling, YouTube TV and many other streaming services. This movie is rated R and has a 7.7% rating on IMDb and a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. This movie also won a Golden Globe for best screenplay-motion picture. I totally agree with these ratings.

 I enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to people who are older and enjoy the horror aspect. 

“The Banshees of Inisherin” is based on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Luscious green grass sprawls throughout the island. It includes beautiful cliffs and white sandy beaches. The time frame of this film is 1923 during a civil war in Ireland. No fighting takes place on the island but they hear the weapons from the island and the main character is always wondering when it will end. 

This movie is not your typical horror movie. It starts out with the main character Padriac. Padriac’s best friend Colm decides that he does not want to be friends with him anymore. It seems that Colm is going through something mentally and it is not Padriac’s fault for his decision to end their friendship. Colm is focused on his music because he wants to have something that represents him when he dies. 

Colm’s decision to end their friendship sends Padriac into a spiral. He wants to figure out why he doesn’t want to be friends anymore. Colm takes the end of their friendship to the most extreme extent, when Padriac tries to talk to him he threatens to cut off a finger each time he tries to contact him. Padriac thinks he is joking and talks to his sister and roommate Siobhan about this. 

Padriac gets lonely during this time and spends all of his time with his donkey that he also lets live in the house part-time. Padriac continues to try to fix his issues with Colm’s until Colm follows through with his threat. 

One day Padriac comes home to a finger by his doorstep. He tries to talk to Colm again and more fingers arrive at his doorstep each time. One of these times Padriac comes home to more fingers and a dead donkey. The one friend Padriac has is now dead. This is when Padriac decides to light Colm’s house of fire. They are now officially feuding and Padriac seems to win the feud after he burns Colm’s house down and Colm stands fingerless. 

While watching this movie anticipation was an emotion I felt almost the entire time. I spent the whole time wondering what was going to happen next. This movie is weird and creepy, but I enjoyed watching it and would recommend watching it if it seems interesting to you.