Lord of Tears is a 2013 Scottish horror film directed by Lawrie Brewster. It tells the tale of James, a schoolteacher, who is bequeathed his family's manor house by his estranged mother, complete with a cryptic warning that he never, ever go there. Naturally, James does just the opposite and despite a few creepy encounters with a menacing man with an owl's head, begins to become smitten with a carefree American woman who lives on the grounds. But events escalate until the monster's presence can no longer be ignored and James discovers that the Owlman's history and his own are more entwined than he could possible imagine.
This film contains examples of the following:
- Badass in a Nice Suit: For reasons known only to him, the Owlman always wears an exquisite black Victorian suit.
- Chekhov's Gun: Just about all of the things James sees get explained at some point except for the bathtub about to overflow. It appears again at the end and its purpose is made tragically clear.
- Closed Circle: When James finally pulls a Screw This, I'm Out of Here his attempt to leave the grounds only brings him right back to the house.
- Composite Character: The film takes the Owlman cryptid of the British Isles and makes it one and the same entity with the Biblical demon Moloch.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: James's encounters with the Owlman as a child caused him to have a complete mental breakdown and compelled his parents to send him as far away from them as possible in order to prevent it happening again. Because they knew exactly what the Owlman was and that it more than likely would happen again and again.
- Dead All Along: Eve, who was sacrificed to Moloch when James was a child.
- Evil Sounds Deep: David Schofield's portrayal of the Owlman comes with a heavy dose of his powerful baritone voice.
- Fanservice: Eve looks gorgeous and generous amounts of time are given to shots of her dancing and disrobing. This brilliantly becomes Fan Disservice at the film's climax when the camera lingers on her for an equally long amount of time as a twitching, menacing, undead abomination.
- Hero of Another Story: Wordless cut-scenes throughout the film show James's friend Allen descending into madness over his father's illness, and apparently murdering him either to end his suffering or out of inability to cope with caring for him. What's actually happening is that he has cut a deal of his own with Moloch and sacrifices James in exchange for Moloch restoring his father to health.
- Humanoid Abomination: The Owlman, and eventually the ghost of Eve.
- I Am the Noun: Don't ask the Owlman who he is unless you have time to listen to a long list of things.
- Loophole Abuse: Moloch demands that James's parents sacrifice their child. They take in a young woman with no family, technically making them her guardians and her their "child." Surprisingly, Moloch accepts this. At least until James shows back up on his doorstep...
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Eve, a carefree and seductive free spirit, serves as this for the very reserved and hesitant James.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: James' father's notes warn that the skull of a sacrifice must always rest in Moloch's shrine or the demon's wrath will be unleashed. In story terms, this seems to mean that Moloch simply finds a way to turn the one who removed the skull into its replacement.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Eve.
- Sadly Mythtaken: The occult book illustration of Moloch comes from the Ars Goetia and is actually of Andras, a different demon lord.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Owlman doesn't seem to leave the estate or seek victims as long as the skull of the previous sacrifice remains in the shrine. Once it is removed, all bets seem to be off.
- Too Dumb to Live: James doesn't seem to question why Moloch would want to help him lay Eve's spirit to rest. It turns out it just clears up the shrine for James's skull to take her place.
