Over the years, horror movie makers have used an exhaustive array of animals to get audiences ducking behind their popcorn buckets. Giant snakes, poisonous spiders, flesh-munching piranha… Alfred Hitchcock even made our feathered friends seem like the spawn of Satan. Now the latest beastly attack on our multiplexes comes in the form of... sheep. And amazingly, a stampeding flock of these mangy animals is a pretty scary sight!
But ovine attacks are just one element of this supernatural thriller. Living in a remote Welsh farmhouse, estranged couple Adelle and James have to face every parent’s worst nightmare when their daughter is swept out to sea. Adelle, haunted by unexplained visions and sounds, refuses to accept her child has gone and the arrival of a mysterious girl called Ebrill strengthens her belief. That’s because it appears Ebrill died 50 years ago and has been brought back from the underworld – because her place has been taken by one of the living.
Combining pagan cults, family trauma and those spooky sheep, The Dark is a taut shocker that echoes elements of Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror and The Wicker Man but avoids feeling too derivative. The film has a particularly chilling finale but, unfortunately, the effect is weakened by the frantic flashbacks and false endings crammed into the previous 10 minutes.
Enough scares to put you off roast lamb for a while Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
