🔗 Share this article

Helmed by Portishead co-founder Geoff Barrow, this scabrous if undernourished debut feature turns a sceptical eye on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own parents. Before you can say, he's upside down in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the wrathful eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”

Unsteady Opening and Grimly Amusing Duel

The film begins uncertainly, lingering excessively on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while clumsily segueing into past scenes of his normal activities. The bigger point – that the rave-era youth were mainly focused on themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these brief episodes are insufficiently developed to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, enraged after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a darkly funny standoff takes hold – David desperate to escape; the Poacher denying his container of cider, determined to dousing him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.

Stylish Imagery and Promo-Inspired Sensibility

There is only one key story turn, but it leads to a hilariously staged rampage on the woodland paths that veers toward rural terror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his showy imagery: where he was hunkered down doing artful shots of insects in the light in the opening part, he now goes all out with the full lysergic grand display, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into making the leap from the UK video industry.

The film releases in British and Irish cinemas from 17 November.