STARVE ARCE

Starve Acre boasts two strong lead performances from Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark and an unsettling atmosphere that gives this folklore horror tale the stage it needs to soar, but a lull in the narrative in the second act that spends too much time setting the pieces for the final act does not deliver enough creepy moments, ultimately preventing the film from being a memorable horror film.

Folklore has always had a stronghold on the horror genre, helping to deliver some of the genre’s most revered films like The Wicker Man, and recent hits like Midsommar and The Witch helping to renew interest in the subgenre. There is something magical and mysterious about the English countryside that makes it the perfect setting for a folklore horror film, which helps to fuel the terror at the heart of Starve Acre. Even if the story brews a little too long in the second act before finding its frightening energy that viewers will be looking for from such a film, with the powerful pairing of Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark in the leading roles, there is an entrancing quality to Starve Acre that will get under your skin and leave you slightly shaken.

Horror films rooted in folklore always have an insidious feel to them, as the local myths and legends become a frightening reality for our protagonists. Starve Acre does exactly this, placing a great emphasis on atmosphere to build the tension over the course of the film. From the first act, the audience thinks they know what direction the story is heading in, but it takes a drastic turn of events at the end of the act that changes the game. This places the pressure on the second act to not only develop the character arcs of our two leads, but to reset the playing field and build towards the third act. It’s too much placed work on the second act without the requisite rising action to keep the audience totally engaged, causing the film to narratively stumble in the middle as it grapples with commonplace themes within the horror genre that have been executed better before. There is no denying that the final act does deliver the terror and shocking moments that audiences are expected from this film, and that Daniel Kokotajlo creates an eerie and unsettling atmosphere through his direction and the film’s cinematography, but it’s not enough to fully make up for the slower middle act as the narrative changes gears and resets.

What fuels the entire film are the lead performances of Smith and Clark, both of whom are exceptional. While they are not names that instantly jump to mind, Smith and Clark have both been delivering commanding performances in recent years, with Smith in House of the Dragon and the first two seasons of The Crown, and Clark in Saint Maud and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and that continues for both of them in this film. Clark’s descent into madness fueled by grief and trauma is gripping, resulting in some truly unnerving moments in the film’s final scenes that will have the audience on edge. Smith, on the other hand, has a more deliberate performance as he grapples with his character’s childhood upbringing and trauma resurface as a result of the story’s events. It gives Smith lots of rich material to work with, fueling lots of quiet and intense moments as the past and present begin to collide, that provides a great narrative contrast to Clark’s work. There is not much for the supporting cast to do narratively speaking, but with Smith and Clark at the helm, the story that traverses familiar material becomes an enticing watch that you can’t help but to finish.

The power of strong performances are truly underrated, as they can transform a slow moving film into a captivating watch that overcomes its shortcomings, and that is exactly what Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark do in Starve Acre. There is no denying that the roots of a good folklore based horror are present in the screenplay and in Daniel Kokotajlo’s direction that visually evokes this horror subgenre, but it takes a little too long for everything to come together to make this a memorable horror experience. With Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark’s mesmerizing performances that help the film land its disturbing final act, Starve Acre overcomes its narrative shortcomings to create a transfixing horror experience even if it feels too familiar to some of the genre’s greatest films.