Without Name

Very slow, perhaps too slow to begin with, this is nevertheless an immersive experience. This is due to a combination of things - the acting, the incredible scenery and the eerie sound design.

There is, however, virtually no story. This is an uneventful film with a lacklustre ending, heightened by very good acting and terrific direction and cinematography. Filmed in Ireland, it is bound to look great - and it does - but the overall feeling I had at the end was ... what? My score is 4 out of 10.

This was very creepy thanks to clever photography and sound effects, and genuinely good acting. It is, however, a rather quiet and slow moving film with not much happening apart from the characters' minds playing tricks on them. It turns very weird towards the end. I think the guy who wrote this had too many mushrooms...

There are some odd occurrences that make you want to keep watching. All in all it's ju sty a lot of weirdness that doesn't amount to much but some psychedelic imagery and effects. Rather a waste of time for me.

I fancied some escapism and had wanted to see this for a while. It looked dark, brooding and potentially a little off the wall. There's a lot of space here, in the frame, in the dialogue, it invites you in. Shot mostly in rural Ireland, Alan McKenna plays the central role, isolated in a simple existence. One of surveying said rural areas. Think forests, old country houses, with creepy books on the shelves, old framed cross-stitch on the walls and a sense of foreboding in the stillness. There's some good thriller tropes and it's a bit Blair Witch without the whining. There's enough bumps, creaks, menacingly eerie gusts of wind to keep you on your toes and more than one occasion that frightened the life out of me. If McKenna does a good job as he slips into his own paranoia and fictional confusion, the real stars are Gavin O'Brien and Neil O'Connor in the sound department, single handedly driving the tension in almost every scene. It's not brilliant and far from perfect, but it sweeps along building nicely and comes to an oddly satisfying end.

Without Name: Irish Folk Horror. A land surveyor works in eerie woods in a gully on the side of a mountain. He spots a strange silhouette as does the student who arrives to help him. His marriage is strained as is his affair with the student. Things get more complicated when they hang out with a magic mushroom munching crustie.

But the mushrooms are not responsible for all the weirdness as people get lost both physically and spiritually in the woods. A true sense of Panic is aroused at times.

Top tip: never ask for an IPA in a mountainside pub in rural Ireland. 8/10.