Starve Acre (2024) Review: Daniel Kokotajlo Brings Out the Best in Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark’s Performances in This Eerie Old-School Folk Horror
The word “atmospheric” is best described for Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre, an old-school folk horror reminiscent of Don’t Look Now, The Wicker Man (no, not that ill-fated 2006 remake) and Rosemary’s Baby. The title itself is based upon Andrew Michael Hurley’s novel of the same name as the story, which takes place in the 1970s era, follows married couple Richard (House of the Dragon‘s Matt Smith) and Juliette (Morfydd Clark, best known for her role as Galadriel in Prime Video’s series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), who recently moved to Richard’s childhood home in the rural Yorkshire countryside belonging to his late father.
They have a young son named Owen (Arthur Shaw) and Kokotajlo, who adapted the screenplay, wastes no time foreshadowing his movie right from the beginning. It all started with Owen claiming he’s been hearing things. A certain “Jack Grey” whispered and whistled at him, resulting in a brief yet queasy moment at a local village fair. Richard and Juliette decide to take their son to the doctor and what follows next is a sudden tragedy: Owen collapses at home and dies.
From there, everything turns upside down for Richard and Juliette. They grow apart with Richard spending more time burying himself in working on an excavation in a nearby land of his childhood home. His endless digging has something to do with the folklore of an ancient oak tree. Not to forget, the journals that his late father left behind, one of which involves the occult and the sprite, Jack Grey. Meanwhile, Juliette locks herself in the bedroom, grieving for the death of her son. Her sister Harrie (Erin Richards) visits them and tries to help Juliette in any way she can.
A horror movie about grief-stricken parents coping with the death of their child is nothing new. And here, Kokotajlo isn’t interested in reinventing the wheel as he sticks to the tried-and-tested folk horror tropes, complete with a slow-burning dread that emphasises heavily on the mood rather than in-your-face jump scare-heavy approach. Even the violence is kept to a bare minimum and instead, he made good use of Adam Scarth’s moody cinematography and Matthew Herbert’s ominous score to elevate the eerie look and feel of a folk-horror movie. I can’t help that Herbert’s musical composition somewhat reminds me of Ludwig Göransson’s score in Tenet.
The pace may have been patchy in places but what keeps me intrigued is witnessing Richard and Juliette’s grief sinks them deep into a state of desperation and obsession, particularly the later appearance of a mysterious hare in their home. And it gets weirder as the movie progresses to a disturbing third act. The movie also benefits from the two leads played by Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark. They handle their roles as grieving parents without succumbing to over-the-top histrionics. Their subtly restrained performances are undoubtedly among the reasons that made this familiar folk-horror movie an above-average effort.
Starve Acre only marks the second feature for Daniel Kokotajlo, whose previous effort was the acclaimed Jehovah’s Witnesses drama Apostasy. Kokotajlo’s follow-up may have been his first foray into the horror genre but he knows well how to put together a mix of drama about grief, folklore and supernatural elements. Even when the story is headed into surreal territory, notably with the hare that Richard and Juliette seem to care so much for the animal, Kokotajlo manages to maintain its consistently creepy tone without making it look silly and preposterous. Under the hands of a lesser director, such a scene might wind up becoming unintentionally laughable.
First premiered at last year’s BFI London Film Festival, Starve Acre opens in U.S. cinemas and on demand on July 26, 2024.
