Director: Chris Nash

Stars: Ry Barrett, Sam Roulston, Cameron Love, Andrea Pavlovic

Pitched as an ‘ambient slasher’ this minimalist horror picture is, sadly, not as groundbreaking as mooted. Filmed in boxy aspect ratio, it takes place mostly from the vantage point (over the shoulder, mainly) of a demonic serial killer. It starts with the discovery by hikers of a locket in the ruins of a fire tower. One of them decides to take it. Shortly after, a hulking figure (Barrett) emerges from the ground, apparently woke by the theft of the item. Later he observes a group of twentysomethings sitting around a campfire, telling stories. Ehren (Roulston) relates a local myth about a mentally ill boy who was bullied by lumberjacks and fell from a fire tower to his death. The lumbering revenant breaks into a ranger station, steals vintage firefighter equipment, and begins a murder spree, deploying the tools in various inventive ways. When director Nash cheats and strays from his strict formalist rules by including other characters’ points of view, it feels like a cop out and reduces the pic to more standard horror fare. Gore fans will relish the elaborate slaughter, including a particularly grisly murder with a hook, but the pacing often feels as plodding as its lumbering killer.

David Willoughby

Follow David on Twitter @DWill_Crackfilm