Starve Acre (15) |Close-Up Film Review
Cast: Matt Smith, Morfydd Clark, Erin Richards
Review by Colin Dibben
In 1970s, rural Yorkshire, Richard and Juliette Willoughby (Smith and Clark) have moved back to his family home, the desolate farm of Starve Acre, with their young son Owen. The parents’ behaviour snowballs into weird territory after a tragic event.
Richard becomes obsessed with uncovering the roots of an ancient oak tree that once stood on the land, after finding a journal written by his father, who was convinced that the tree had strange powers.
Meanwhile, Juliette invites her sister (Richards) to stay but even her company cannot stop Juliette’s descent into despair.
I loved the atmosphere of the film, but it does seem to fit with a melancholic, depressive film style that is every bit as much contemporary British film-school alumni as early 1970s TV. The approach shows wonderful attention to detail, for instance the spot-on period detail in the farmhouse and Richard’s university spaces; and technically outclasses and surpasses the ‘original’ 70s look: the widescreen fisheyed lens shots here look transcendentally 70s.
The acting by the leads is so quiet and doomy, with grunting, weeping and hissing to the fore, that the viewer has time to appreciate all of this atmosphere – but is there something missing? I’m thinking of the excessive, transgressive joy that even the most cynical US horror retread wallows in.
Perhaps Starve Acre is too immersed in its own depressive atmosphere, which even dampens the surprising plot twists and shocks. But then again, these are finely done and woven into the whole with haunting effect: over the weeks since I saw the film I keep on having vision bursts of the spirit animal at the heart of the whole creepy, dreadful phenomenon.
Folk horror has been such a buzzy genre in the last few years that it is odd to realise that when those of us of the right age enjoyed it on both TV and cinema screens back then, the genre didn’t even have a name. Starve Acre is a great way to engage with the whole tradition, as the film is packed with references to it.
To accompany the release, Daniel Kokotajlo has programmed a BFI Southbank and BFI Player season of films and television programmes that have inspired and influenced him.
Roots, Rituals and Phantasmagoria runs from 1 September.
Trailer:
