Director: Daniel KokotajiloStars: Matt Smith, Morfydd Clark, Arthur Shaw

Folk horror ahoy in this handsome but inert and derivative adaption of Andrew Michael Hurley’s novel, co-adapted by the author. Matt Smith is Richard Willoughby, an archaeologist who has moved back to his grim rural Yorkshire village with his obviously reluctant but forbearing wife Jules (Clark) and their son Owen (Shaw). Their lives begin to unspool when Owen claims that he hears strange whistling sounds. Meanwhile Richard becomes increasingly obsessive in his investigations into local folklore, specifically an ancient oak tree that lies on their land. The brown and grey-hued photography effectively conjures up the 70s period and Smith and Clark are great as the troubled couple. The narrative is drab and sluggish though, and the script feels way too much in thrall to its influences, such as ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw’ and, more obviously, ‘Don’t Look Now’. The pacing picks up in the third act, even as the story skirts silliness.

David Willoughby

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