Metacritic-Rezensionen

Aiming for authenticity, Kokotajlo finds supernatural power and dramatic weight in the genre’s rustic simplicity.

I enjoyed its surreal tinge and the thickening atmosphere. However, I came away a little disappointed with the wavering tone, wondering if it this might have horror blockbuster legs if it were a little more even. As it stands, this is a fantastically enigmatic horror film done beautifully well.

Daniel Kokotajlo‘s impressive second feature unfolds in a vein of British folk horror that has been popular of late — with films from Ben Wheatley’s “A Field in England” to Mark Jenkins’s “Enys Men” all tapping into that retro “Wicker Man” eeriness — but rarely with such rattling sensory specificity or formal refinement.

Starve Acre is not one of those horror films that everyone going in blind will enjoy. It’s not a crowd pleaser or a popcorn thriller. It’s a steady, methodically engineered, beautifully realized meditation on the slow, persistent sting of grief, and a gentle unearthing of the things we bury deep in our souls.

If Starve Acre seems to walk on well-trodden ground, Kokotajlo is nevertheless adept at inhabiting and revitalising the material. Familiar themes and moods haunt the film with their own uncanny insistence.

Starve Acre is a rousing addition to the British folk horror tradition with intensely emotional lead performances that takes viewers on a nostalgic journey into pagan ritual.

At times, it’s scary how derivative it is. Still, as crepuscular weirdness seeps across the story and leads to a delirious ending, it’s largely effective.

Smith and Clark, at the head of a very capable supporting cast, keep the movie on an even dramatic keel, with intelligent, thought-through performances putting life back into some familiar tropes.

It is moody and creepy, though perhaps not brave enough to wander into true melodrama or bizarre fantasy. In the end, its performances and the way it incorporates Gothic elements, along with a strong visual aesthetic, make the film a worthwhile watch.

Not even the most masterly work can entertain for very long when it is put to preposterous use.