The recent explosion of folk horror films (especially post-The Witch) has wrung seemingly every possible bit of storytelling potential out of grief and PTSD, but offering another interesting twist on the formula is the 2023 British feature Starve Acre, based on the third novel by Andrew Michael Hurley (Devil's Day). This one gets off with a head start already thanks to the canny casting of Matt Smith (Doctor Who, House of the Dragon) and Morfydd Clark (Saint Maud, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) as its two leads,

Archeology instructor Richard (Smith) and his wife Jules (Clark) have moved into his late father's home in rural Yorkshire, along with their young son, Owen (Shaw), whose volatile behavior has his mother concerned about his welfare-- such as pulling out a horse's eye at a local fair. When Owen dies from an asthma attack one afternoon, the grieving parents are both pulled into different aspects of folklore in the area involving seances and a mystical tree that supposedly connects to the world of the dead. Richard's explorations lead to him bringing home the bones of a hare at the tree site, which sets into motion a horrific chain of events.

With its convincing 1970s setting and austere, creepy countryside setting, Starve Acre certainly scratches that itch if you're a fan of moody, subdued English horror. Tonally it fits right in with works like Robin Redbreast along with studies in supernatural grief like Pet Sematary, Hereditary, or Don't Look Know, and both of the leads do a fine job of portraying their descent into grotesque family life. The supporting cast is solid as well including Erin Richards (reuniting with Smith from The Crown) and Slow Horses' Sean Gilder, and second time writer-director Daniel Kokotajlo handles the thread of pagan practices merging with social customs admirably throughout. It isn't a film for the impatient, but that often goes with the territory for these kind of spooky tales.

Released in the U.K. by the BFI, Starve Acre was picked up by Brainstorm Media for the U.S. including a Blu-ray special edition that somewhat overlaps in terms of presentation and extras. The film itself looks immaculate as you'd expect, with a suitably grainy and textured appearance that suits the period nicely; DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 English options are available with optional English SDH subtitles. Both sound effective and fairly similar as there isn't a ton of split channel activity going on here. A soft-spoken audio commentary with Daniel Kokotajlo, production designer Francesca Massariol, and sound designer Ben Baird covers the essentials of the film including its production and influences; if you want to know the connection between this and Serpico, look no further. Also included are EPK-style video interviews with Smith (3m24s) and Clark (7m55s) and, exclusive to this release, Kokotajlo (16m55s), producer Emma Duffy (13m16s), Richards (6m27s), and Gilder (6m18s). Also included are both editions are a very fun chat with the special effects "Hare Team" (19m27s) complete with a familiar prop from the film, the trailer, and a short reel of behind the scenes footage (5m11s), while the Brainstorm disc comes with an insert featuring an essay by Kim Newman on the film's handling of folk horror tropes. The U.K. release has an audiodescriptive track, a 23-minute interview with composer Matthew Herbert, a 21-minute interview with Hurley, Gilder reading an excerpt from the novel, and a very short deleted scene.

Reviewed on February 19, 2025