mhodgson66

This film appears to have polarised IMDB reviewers in to two camps: those who loathe it and those who rather like it. I am a member of the latter. It will probably aid your enjoyment if you have a predisposition for the weird, unexplained and ambiguous. Plus, if you have seen previous Ben Wheatley films you should find the narrative to be an interesting, if perhaps minor, addition to his canon of work.

The four central actors are excellent - all work well within the unsettling scenario. The photography and editing is arresting as you would expect from Wheatley and the spooky atmosphere (on an obviously tight budget) is well conceived.

Ignore the naysayers and give this a go...if you enjoy slow burning, weird, atmospheric and typically British folk horror on a small scale.

I am currently three episodes in (watching on Freeviews Drama channel) and am beginning to warm to this quirky, detective series. My partner and I were drawn to it because of the talented Nicola Walker as the lead. She certainly doesn't disappoint despite her dodgy accent (as far as I can tell she doesn't sound so much Norwegian as just a bit stilted). The supporting characters are also becoming more rounded, especially those played by Jamie Sives and Katie Leung. Although enjoyable it is pretty lightweight and would really benefit from an injection of more grit and realism. I'm not convinced that breaking the 4th wall really adds anything, particularly considering by episode three Annika is opening up to her colleagues in any case. I also think the episodes need to be longer so as to give the murder cases (as well as the continuing characters' story arcs) more time to breathe. Like others have commented, the 'difficult' relationship with the tiresomely sullen teenage daughter is also cliched. Either make the character of the daughter more rounded or sideline this aspect of Annika's life altogether.

This low budget British horror is worth giving a go at least for the last half hour which is extremely suspenseful and well played out. It is by no means a masterpiece but the direction, editing and acting are perfectly adequate and even shift up a gear for the bravura finale. For those Brits old enough to remember, it reminded me of an episode from the Hammer House of Horror tv series where each week we were entertained by a gory, wildly unlikely horror tale. I was also impressed by the ending (which is so often a major weak point in these genre films) as it is both satisfying and amusing in equal measure. So stick with it and you won't be disappointed.