STARVE ACRE (2023)

New streaming on Shudder!
Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo.
Written by Daniel Kokotajlo, Andrew Michael Hurley.
Check out the trailer here!!

When their son Owen (Arthur Shaw) begins showing strange and violent behavior, Richard and Juliette (Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark) seek out answers to Owen’s unique medical condition. But when tragedy strikes, the parents are overcome with overwhelming grief and guilt. Feelings that are appeased by a new strange discovery on their property, Richard unearths in the form of a large skeleton of a rabbit.

STARVE ACRE is not for those who like their stories punchy and action packed. It’s a somber piece of folk horror, focusing on enveloping the viewer in a dank and dark sense of dread and sorrow. It’s slow pace matches the depressed movements of the cast who are dealing with problems no one would want to be able to bear. The characters are literally weighed down by sorrow and loss, making this a very difficult slog to tread through.

The thing is, this is a masterful dissection of grief and loss, with a pair of stars that are mesmerizing in their envelopment of depression due to a tragic death occurring in their family. Both Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark deliver memorable performances as grieving parents, attempting to make sense of the difficulties they experience as parents of Owen, a problematic child who performs some truly disturbing acts. None of this is fun stuff to go through and I can understand if you are not interested in experiencing this extreme dread and choose to skip this flick.

But if you do, you miss some fantastic performances from Smith and Clark. Both of which deal with the horrors of parenting a problematic child in different, yet still tragic ways. As the story proceeds and Richard and Juliette are forced to accept their fates, it is all the more horrifying to see the breaking of their spirits and embrace of the truly uncanny in order to cope with these complex feelings. I’m being deliberately vague as I feel the bulk of the first half of the story deserves to play out, especially since the second more surreal and bizarre half drives the point home so succinctly and metaphorically potent. The final act of STARVE ACRE simply grips the heart and refuses to let go, as the parents attempt to grasp onto anything that might resemble some kind of normal form of parenthood, no matter how strange that coping truly is.

Though it takes it sweet ass time, STARVE ACRE actually treads through all of this grief and gets to a more supernatural level and once that occurs, there are some sights and sounds that you most likely will not forget. The rabbit that appears to Richard and Juliette looks fantastic, though I believe it is CGI. Still, it is seamless, and while the rabbit’s role is something that is truly out there, it looks fantastic and serves as the focal point for some of the film’s most powerful scenes. It all culminates in a dark and twisted final scene that needs to be experienced to be believed. I don’t want to say any more, but man, those final moments are still stuck in my brain.

Matt Smith, though morose and distant, is great as Richard, the father who tries hard to care despite his own past filled with abuse and torment. LORD OF THE RINGS: RINGS OF POWER’s Morfydd Clark also has a powerful presence as a mother who has lost it all and will cling to anything, no matter how odd, to overcome those feelings. I also have to give a shout out to GOTHAM actress Erin Richards, who delivers a strong performance as Juliette’s sister who attempts to help out during these hard times. All involved deliver strong performances, enveloping the viewer in grief and hardship.

Again, this is not a chipper little horror flick. It’s a morose examination of loss, grief, and the coping mechanisms within all of us we rely on in order to keep on keeping on after a severe loss. STARVE ACRE is a slow, slow, slow burn. It slogs along as if it were stuck in hip-deep mud at times, but all of it has a point in forcing the viewer to experience the same feelings of depression and woe that the lead characters are feeling. It’s got a hammer punch of an ending that makes the slow trip there worthwhile, but I can understand if there are those who might not be up to this dark, dank journey.