Horror Film Review: Starve Acre (2023) ★★★★★

Rural Yorkshire, 1970s. Starve Acre was meant to deliver an idyllic, countryside life for Richard Willoughby (Matt Smith, House of the Dragon), his wife Juliette (Morfydd Clark, Saint Maud) and their young son Owen. Inherited from Richard's father and situated on the edge of the Moors, the rural homestead held the promise of an unburdened life, despite Richard's unhappy childhood memories there.

All of that is thrown into disarray when Owen's temperament slowly changes, robbing him of his sweet nature and delivering a cruel and changeable boy. That is just the beginning of the family's trauma. Based on the award-winning 2019 novel by Andrew Michael Hurley and written and directed by BAFTA nominee Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy), Starve Acre is an atmospheric British folk horror that reaches into the depths of grief and the lengths people will go to in order to find peace again.

Starve Acre is delightfully creepy and very unsettling. It is subtle and slow-burning, with the central conceit dawning far too late on the audience for them to escape its horror. There are scenes that I fear I'll never be able to scrub from my mind, specifically those involving a miniature pony and a terrifying hare. It is years since I have recoiled in horror during a film.

Curiously, the homestead Starve Acre is itself a character in the film. Looming and foreboding, it is not so much a haunted house as a seething, malevolent entity. It seems unusual that Richard would return there, given his intensely unhappy (and frankly, unsafe) childhood but the way the land calls to Richard, Juliette's visions and Owen's cruelty foreshadow the tragedy that will beset the family.  

Starve Acre is a beautiful film, assuming you find stark vistas of the barren Yorkshire Moors to be aesthetically pleasing. The original score and music by Matthew Herbert (The Wonder) is a moving accompaniment, especially the arrangement of “It Hails, It Rains” in the closing credits.

There is no shame in admitting that I watched the film for Doctor Who alum Matt Smith but the whole cast including Erin Richards (Gotham) deliver fine performances and look fantastic in their folksy 70s wardrobe.

I give Starve Acre an excellent five out of five stars. Drawing on the remote and foreboding setting of the Moors, this is the best on offer in the British folk horror genre. Director Daniel Kokotajlo has delivered a stylish and atmospheric film that fans of Midsommar and folk horror will love.
★★★★★

Starve Acre will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 6 September 2024 followed by a release on BFI Player, BFI Blu-ray and digital release on 21 October 2024.

Trailer: Starve Acre (2023), dir. Daniel Kokotajlo

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Horror Film Review: The Exorcism (2024) ★★★☆☆

The 1973 film The Exorcist is the quintessential demonic possession film, so entrenched in horror culture that it renders all other films on the subject redundant. Who better than to explore this concept than Joshua John Miller, whose father played Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist? Miller confronts the legend in his directorial debut The Exorcism, a film about an ill-fated remake, a traumatised actor, and the wrecking ball effect on families of alcoholics.

Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe) is attempting to put the pieces of his life back together. A survivor of childhood abuse at the hands of the Catholic Church, he descended into alcoholism and philandering during his wife's illness and subsequent death. His daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins, Fear Street) has just been sent home from school. When Anthony gets a role as a priest on a remake of The Exorcist, he employs Lee as his PA and the two head off to set together.

Tensions are high from the outset, with the film's director Peter (Adam Goldberg) determined to tap into Anthony's guilt and trauma. Child abuse is a life sentence and now Anthony is forced to step into the shoes of his perpetrators, becoming one with those that brutalised him and others when they were children.

Adding to his woes is the presence on set of consultant priest Father Conor (David Hyde Pierce), his very collar triggering Anthony and dredging up memories of his past.

With all that is going on in his life, and with his reputation preceding him, the cast, crew and those closest to Anthony are blinded to the dark undercurrent of evil that is permeating the film set.

Is this just another ride on the rollercoaster that is life with an alcoholic or is something else at play here?

It's a bit of both really.

The Exorcism is a very ambitious film, filled with some big name actors, including cameos from Sam Worthington and Adrian Pasdar. Indeed, there was some inspired casting in the film, notably David Hyde Pierce who needs to be in more horror films.

Throughout the film, we get a fascinating insight into life on a film set, how it looks and how the stages fit together, but this ultimately detracts from the rest of the film. Perhaps the issue with this film-about-a-film is that the viewer can't help but be aware that they are viewing the film through the literal and figurative lens of a film camera.

I genuinely wish I could have rated this film higher but somehow the pieces of The Exorcism don't quite fit together to make a harmonious whole. I can see what the director was trying to do, that the film was intended to be an allegory for the trauma of childhood abuse and the journey into alcoholism, but ultimately it required too much work for the viewer to put together the pieces.

I give The Exorcism a good three out of five stars. This film was a bit hit and miss but I'll be interested to see what director Joshua John Miller does in future and whether he can achieve that heady mix of horror and drama that he seemed to be aiming for here.
★★★☆☆

The Exorcism is currently in cinemas.

Trailer: The Exorcism (2024)

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Horror Film Review: The Moor (2023) ★★★★☆ (Independent Film)

The greatest horror on-screen is often not in the vengeful spirits or undead corpses, but in the terror of everyday events. When somebody you love is missing, it sucks the air right out of your lungs and you can’t shift your thoughts away from them for one moment. The not-knowing makes your mind circle in an endless loop, one that is never quite completed. For some of us, that moment passes and our loved one is found; for others, 25 years go by without a shadow of resolution. Chris Cronin’s feature length debut The Moor delves into the mind of a grieving father, 25 years after his son disappeared without a trace.

25 years ago, 5 children disappeared without a trace
Now the darkness that took them has returned

The Moor opens with a single-take scene in the mid-90s. A young girl Claire encourages her best friend Danny to go into a shop to disturb the shopkeeper while she steals sweets. In the blink of an eye, a man enters the store, takes Danny and disappears with him. As the excellent opening credits roll with archive footage and VHS glitching, we learn that it is the “Summer of Fear”. Five children will disappear before the perpetrator is caught and put away for 25 years.

Set in Yorkshire, England, The Moor is beautifully atmospheric with sweeping shots of the barren moors and postcard views of the local town. Snippets of a documentary are featured throughout the film, giving the impression that this is a town defined by the Summer of Fear, one where young people left in droves following the terrible events of their childhoods.

Returning to her hometown for the first time in years, Claire (Sophia La Porta) meets up with Danny’s father Bill (David Edward-Robertson). Using increasingly esoteric techniques, and with the help of local psychic Eleanor (Elizabeth Dormer-Phillips) and guide Liz (Vicki Hackett), Bill shares that he is continuing the search for Danny on the moors where he is believes his son was buried.

Despite her visceral fear and deep-seated reservations, Claire agrees to join Bill. It soon becomes clear that they are dealing with a greater evil than they could ever have anticipated. They have already lost so much, what more does the moor want to take from them?

The Moor is frankly terrifying in parts, with the scenes in the séance and later on the moor forever embedded on my memory. Toeing the line between true crime and the supernatural, Chris Cronin delivers a nail-biting ride.

The Moor benefits from superb acting from the entire cast, be it interviewees in the documentary or the children in the opening scene. La Porta and Edward-Robertson shine as Claire and Bill, both in the carrying of their trauma and in the tentative, gentle way they treat one another.

The effect is addictive. I couldn’t draw my eyes away for screen for one moment, desperate to learn more about the forces at play in the moor, the nature of the great evil and the whereabouts of the children.

“There’s a time to accept that some things will always be senseless” – Claire

The thing about missing people is that you don’t always get a resolution. Children disappear and their parents can go to their graves without ever knowing what happened. Throughout the film, the audience is constantly haunted by the ghost of Keith Bennett, the Moors Murders victim whose remains were never found. Ultimately, The Moor buckles under the weight of that horrific burden, unable to resist the urge to close the circle. The final scene of the film, filmed used the found-footage conceit, provides an unnecessary and deeply unsatisfying ending to an otherwise excellent film.

In the end, I had to accept that no matter how conflicted I felt about that ending, how little it made sense, it achieved two outcomes: I couldn’t stop thinking about the film, for days after watching it, but I was also reminded that resolutions are seldom satisfying in legacy missing persons cases.

Despite my ambivalence, I give The Moor an excellent four out of five stars. I imagine I won't be the only viewer conflicted by the ending but on the whole, The Moor delivered on scares, atmosphere and performances. This was an impressive feature debut from director Chris Cronin and a welcome addition to the British folk-horror genre.
★★★★☆

The Moor will be in UK Cinemas from 14th June and Digital Download from 1st July

The Moor (2023) Trailer. Directed by Chris Cronin

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Horror Film Review: Late Night with the Devil (2023) ★★★★★ – A Shudder Exclusive

Welcome back to October 31, 1977. Night Owls with Jack Delroy (a show desperate to poach Johnny Carson's viewers) is floundering. After the loss of his wife, Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian, Oppenheimer) returns with a Halloween show that will become the most notorious night in television history. Written and directed by the Cairnes brothers, Late Night With the Devil starts as a mockumentary before screening the full episode plus behind-the-scenes footage of that fateful night.

We’re transported back to 1970s late night television in all its beige, brown and maroon glory

The show starts off normally enough. We meet probable-charlatan-mystic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) and magician-turned-skeptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss). The two lock horns immediately but something is not quite right and it’s about to be broadcast into every living room in the nation.

Dr June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon, Reckoning) and the very peculiar Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) are up next. Apart from an alleged demonic possession, Lilly is just a normal teenager, speaking in weird, veiled threats and occasionally using deeper voices.

What could possibly go wrong?

For a short while, the viewer will be forgiven for thinking that the most scary thing about Late Night with the Devil is the crimplene, corduroy and thick white tights.

Hold on to your seats, it’s about to get much more terrifying

Late Night with the Devil is about as perfect as a horror film can get. It is scary, with a great plot, and is wildly original. It’s also a lot of fun.

The set design, clothing, hair and makeup all perfectly encapsulate the dark era of late 70s fashion, when common sense flew out the window and the rainbow in orange and brown took its place. (Yes, I have trauma relating to the matching brown, crimplene pantsuits my mother made for me and my ragdoll in 1976, what of it?).

The cast are brilliant - awkward, cringey and overly posturing – for just a moment, it feels like you really have been transported back to 1977. Special mention has to go to Ingrid Torelli in her chilling performance as Lilly; I feel like I want to see a lot more of her in future.

I give Late Night With the Devil an excellent five out of five stars. Highly recommended if you teeter on the edge of true belief and are a fan of the late night horror genre. I think this film will especially appeal to fans of the cult classic Phantom of the Paradise. Most importantly, it's 93 minutes of fun and I'm intrigued enough to keep an eye on directors Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes in future.
★★★★★

A Shudder Exclusive, Late Night With the Devil premieres Friday 19 April 2024.

Late Night With the Devil (2023), dir. Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes

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Horror Film Review: You'll Never Find Me (2023) ★★★★☆ - A Shudder Original

On a dark, stormy night, loner Patrick sits at the table in his trailer, contemplating the end. The rain is beating on his trailer’s rickety roof and windows when there is an insistent banging at his door. Against his better judgement, he lets the visitor in and deeply uncomfortable viewing ensues. The visitor finds it increasingly difficult to leave and for his part, Patrick finds it increasingly difficult to tell fiction from reality.

He is not the only one

In their feature-length directorial debut, Australian filmmakers Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell deliver a tense, claustrophobic horror that will keep the audience guessing to the very end. You'll Never Find Me dives deep into gender dynamics and the quagmire of unchartered territory between the generations. Is Patrick as lonely, paranoid and cynical as he seems, or is the visitor the strange one?

Personally, it left me feeling a bit dull as I battled to work out who exactly the antagonist was in that trailer on that very strange, stormy night. Lost for words as the credits rolled, I’d very helpfully scribbled down, ‘I’m left with the distinct impression that I no longer have a grasp of what is real and what is not’. It was only in the quiet hours that followed that I was able to unpick and piece back together the clues and circular timeline, to arrive at some level of enlightenment.

You'll Never Find Me is a very clever film

Brendan Rock (Carnifex) is excellent as the deeply troubled Patrick. The victim of self-imposed exile in a trailer park in a very remote location, Patrick is paying the price for the mistake that lost him his job. The only problem is that he quite liked making that mistake.

Jordan Cowan (Krystal Klairvoyant) shines as the young visitor. Perfectly embodying the deep distrust anyone under 25 has for those born in the last century, she sails her way through the night with the carefully curated blank facial expressions that are the hallmark of her generation. She is giving away nothing, least of all clues as to what she might be up to.

The rain itself is a character in You'll Never Find Me. Brief flashbacks of a girl knocking on a car window provide a welcome chance for the viewer to catch their breath before being plunged back into the stagnant air of the trailer once again. It is a different thing altogether inside that trailer, where the rain becomes primary prisoner and tormentor, sentencing Patrick and the visitor to a very awkward and confusing situation.

For so much of You'll Never Find Me, I thought this was going to be a film of more suffocation and discomfort than scares but wait, the horror does come. In those final moments where the plot unpacks itself, you realise that the worst nightmare imaginable is playing out, one that repeatedly wakes me up at night. This film is not going to help that. At all.

I give You'll Never Find Me an excellent four out of five stars. Recommended for fans of claustrophobic horror and Australian frankness. I'll be interested to see what Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell deliver next because this did not feel like a debut feature.
★★★★☆

A Shudder Original, You'll Never Find Me premieres on Friday 22 March 2024.

You'll Never Find Me (2023) Trailer. Directed by Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell

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Horror Film Review: Doctor Jekyll (2023) ★★★☆☆ (Hammer Films)

Oh, let our dark hearts rejoice! Hammer Films has risen from the dead, resurrected in an acquisition by British theatre producer John Gore. The first film on the revived Hammer slab is Joe Stephenson’s Doctor Jekyll, starring Eddie Izzard, Scott Chambers and Lindsay Duncan. A creepy mansion, an unpredictable scientist; will this modern retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde deliver?

Rob (Scott Chambers, Malevolent) is fresh out of prison. Downtrodden and defeated, he needs to get a job before he can visit his sick daughter in hospital. In a suspicious stroke of luck, he secures an interview for a carer position for the reclusive Doctor Nina Jekyll (Eddie Izzard). Incredibly, he gets the position but seems immediately to be on a collision course with Jekyll’s assistant, Sandra (Lindsay Duncan). It doesn’t take long for Rob to work out that something sinister lurks in the shadowed halls of Jekyll’s mansion but he might be looking in the wrong places for the source of the danger.

From the opening credits, Doctor Jekyll harks back to the glory days of Hammer Films. A sense of unease permeates every scene, heightened by Rob’s naivety and inexperience. While scary in parts, Doctor Jekyll is not about jump scares so much as that Kafkaesque feeling of doom. What would you do if your own morals got in the way of your success?

Always stay two steps ahead

Cinematographer Birgit Dierken makes excellent use of light and shadows, bright colours and silhouettes in the film. Much of the film takes place in Jekyll’s mansion with its Escher artworks and locked doors. One scene that stood out for me was right at the beginning when Rob walks through the gates of the mansion. He is captured from above with the long shadows of the iron gates trailing him. It is deeply foreshadowing; which will catch Rob first, his past or what lies beyond those gates?

Scott Chambers gives an excellent performance as Rob (full name Robert Louis Stevenson, of course). He is believable as a young man who finds himself adrift and quite lost, trying to become a different person to the one that landed him in prison. Eddie Izzard gives a likewise excellent performance as Nina Jekyll, with a compelling and powerful presence onscreen.

I was thoroughly enjoying Doctor Jekyll right up until the final act. I can think of far more satisfying endings or reveals for a film that proved itself willing to change the source material. Nevertheless, it’s down to personal taste and I can imagine will leave audiences divided.

I give Doctor Jekyll a good three out of five stars. Director Justin Kurzel has delivered a creepy film, deserving of the Hammer Horror banner, but the plot somehow prevents this film from being elevated to four stars. I didn’t love the ending but I liked it enough to seek out further works from Scott Chambers and Joe Stephenson.
★★★☆☆

Doctor Jekyll will be available on Digital Download from 11th March

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Trailer: Doctor Jekyll (2023), dir: Joe Stephenson

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Horror Film Review: Silence of the Prey (2024) ★★★☆☆ (Golden State Film Festival 2024)

Folk horror Silence of the Prey opens the 8th edition of the Golden State Film Festival at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood tonight. Karyna Kudzina stars and makes her directorial debut, alongside Michael Vaynberg, in a film highlighting the plight of undocumented migrants who, lacking the protections of everyday people, often fall through the net.

Nina (Karyna Kudzina) has escaped her native Belarus and arrived, undocumented, in the United States. Desperate to provide a stable environment for her daughter Isabella, Nina accepts a position as a live-in caretaker for a man on an isolated rural homestead. She is warned that he is eccentric but nothing quite prepares her for Luther (Chris LaPanta) or his community who forego modern conveniences and hunt their own food.

When Colombian national Andres (Monte Bezell) arrives at the homestead after his car breaks down, Nina finds a kindred spirit, one to share the horrors of the locals’ geographical and political ignorance and their increasingly intrusive questions.

“If I have to choose between being homeless on the street with a four-year-old and eventually being deported, or staying with a strange old man, I will choose the last. Unless you have any other suggestions”

As Nina begins to experience disturbing visions and hallucinations, she realises that all is not as it seems with Luther and his community. What is the terrifying secret that Luther is hiding and what lies beyond his friends’ ignorance and prejudice?

Silence of the Prey highlights the exploitation and vulnerability of those who do not have a voice, the people who arrive silently in other countries and lack the protections of documented arrivals. Anything can happen and as Nina observes, nobody even knows she is there.

Like many folk horror films, Silence of the Prey is a slowburner with little action taking place in the first hour. The isolation of Luther’s homestead and antiquated views of the community provide ample foreshadowing of what is to come.

Silence of the Prey is a family affair. Karyna Kudzina is married to Monte Bezell and their daughter Isabella stars as Isabella in the film. It is no surprise then that there is chemistry and a sense of cohesion between the characters that is obvious on screen. Chris LaPanta shines as the maddening and abstruse Luther, who seems to be on Nina’s side in one moment and not in the next.

My only complaint about Silence of the Prey would be that the storytelling is a bit linear and somewhat lacking in nuance. In their effort to highlight the plight of the undocumented, writers Kudzina and Saro Varjabedian have fallen into the trap of telling rather than showing and the key conflict is delivered with little subtlety.

Despite that, I give Silence of the Prey a good three out of four stars and recommend to fans of independent film and folk horror. I'm interested to see what Karyna Kudzina does next and hope that it includes more collaborations with Monte Bezell.
★★★☆☆

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Trailer:Silence of the Prey (2024). Directed by Michael Vaynberg and Karyna Kudzina

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Now in its 8th year, the Golden State Film Festival is an opportunity for emerging independent filmmakers to showcase their talents, gain exposure to a wider audience, and compete for prizes. Filmmakers from across the United States and around the world are eligible to participate, and short-form as well as feature-length works are considered for entry.

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