Adam (Joseph Mawle) and Claire (Bojana Novakovic) have moved with their infant to a house on the edge of Ireland's last remaining public forest. Adam is surveying for a logging company and has already felt the resistance of the locals, who warn him not to anger the spirits living in the woods. He dismisses it as superstition until a weird fungus starts trying to steal his baby.
This turned out to be a much more traditional take on Halloween. Actual fey! Not warm and fuzzy, twinkly light Disney fairies, either. Dark, red-in-tooth-and-claw, pitiless Nature. You love to see it.
It's hard to ignore the conservationist overtones here. Mess with Nature, feel Nature's wrath. But I'm not mad at it. The horror itself is good, well-crafted, with just enough lore that it feels inevitable. I've talked before about how horror has consequences. There's a morality to the mortality. This is Right and True. The creature effects are practical, animatronic, and some CGI for flavor with only a couple of moments where they look like dried apple dolls. This would actually make a great double-feature with Pumpkinhead.
It's currently streaming on Shudder.
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