Safe Return Doubtful

Folk Horror – Britain 2025

When I see a movie reviews getting a wide variety of reviews it always attracts my interest. That was the case with this. The bad reviews, and they were in the majority, intrigued me further; most wanted blood and gore, and more action, but got a film that breaks the mold of Hollywood’s tired formulas.

This is a good movie that could have come from the pen of the great weird horror writer, Arthur Machen. The eerie mood that debut director Bryn Chainey creates, combined with his use of Welsh folklore (the Otherworld and its faeries) works especially well as does the emotional transformation of the characters.

The cinematography is excellent also, though the supposed Welsh countryside is actually North Yorkshire. It was filmed there because Welsh law forbids smoking in the making of movies.

The film pays a homage also to 1970s British folk horror, heavy on atmosphere, but strong in the three characters and the drama that develops. Performances are great, Dev Patel as Darcy, Rosy McEwen as his wife Daphne, and young Jade Croot, known so fittingly as just ‘the child’.

IMDb score 4.8 / 10 – My score 7 / 10