rural horror tagged posts

September 1, 2018, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Tom de Ville

Writer: Tom de Ville

Cast: Maisie Williams, Jamie Davis, Archie Duffy, Joe Wolstenholme, Edward Wallace

Cert: 12

Running time: 11mins

Year: 2018

What’s the story: Young ornithophile Jay (Williams) attempts to nurse a crow, injured by local boys. Those boys then set their sights on Jay.

What’s the verdict: No matter how long it takes, some directors must get their story told. Writer/director Tom de Ville fits nicely into that bracket; his memorable, unusual Corvidae spent six years reaching the screen.

The bulk of principal shooting occurred back in December 2012, with editing, scoring, reshoots and FX work filling out the rest of the time (with crowdfunding assistance, presumably for the visual effects shots).

Happily, the result was worth both time and effor...

October 10, 2016, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Na Hong-jin

Writer: Na Hong-jin

Cast: Kwak Do-won, Jun Kunimura, Chun Woo-hee, Hwang Jung-min

Cert: 15 (TBC)

Running time: 156mins

Year: 2016

What’s the story: In a rural South Korean village the locals begin to act psychotically deranged, murdering loved ones. The villagers believe a Japanese stranger is to blame and a slow-witted police sergeant must solve the mystery before it comes close to home.

What’s the verdict: Six long years have passed since writer/director Na Hong-jin’s blistering action thriller The Yellow Sea. Unfortunately, when watching The Wailing you are left wishing he had spent a year or so more fine tuning this horror epic.

Overlong but underdeveloped and often incoherent, The Wailing boasts a number of stand-out moments but collapses under its own...

August 28, 2016, Posted in  Reviews Comments: No comments

Director: Wyndham Price

Writer: Wyndham Price, Nick Moran (screenplay), Tim Rhys (stageplay)

Cast: Nick Moran, Tom Rhys Harries, Elen Rhys, Danny Webb, Andrew Howard, Terence Stamp

Cert: 15 (TBC)

Running time: 107mins

Year: 2016

What’s the story: When a wealthy landowner looks to evict settlers from an area of land he has bought in the Welsh countryside, ancient gods and old powers are raised, bringing about a series of terrible events.

What’s the verdict: Adapted from Tim Rhys’ stage play, Crow is a polished low-budget exercise in modern social unrest and ancient beliefs.

Co-writer Nick Moran (whose 2005 film Puritan is an enjoyable, underseen slice of Brit horror) has fun as deliciously scummy villain Tucker, a self-made East London businessman low on green credentials, big on ...

November 3, 2013, Posted in  Reviews

Director: Jeremy Lovering

Writer: Jeremy Lovering

Cast: Iain De Caestecker, Alice Englert

Cert: 15

Running time: 85mins

Year: 2013

The lowdown: Buckle up for a ride into terror with this gleefully scary British shocker. On their way to an Irish musical festival, a twenty something couple opt to check into a hotel for a night of getting-to-know-you nooky. But, as the countryside becomes a lethal maze, it rapidly grows apparent they are not intended to reach their destination. Writer/director Jeremy Lovering makes a confident debut with a stripped back, text book example in escalating dread. See it, just don’t see it alone.

The full verdict: Horror is a perfect genre for tackling grand themes. Life, death, the meaning of existence in the cold recesses of a pitiless universe…