The roots of an ancient tree, felled centuries ago, twist and turn their way into the lives of a married couple with devastating results in Starve Acre, which enjoys a world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.
A morbid fascination with the occult and ancient magic has marked UK horror from 1973’s The Wicker Man to 2021’s The Green Knight. Starve Acre is the latest to dig into the UK’s pagan history, this time through the lens of the couple, Richard and Juliette (Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark), parents to schoolboy Owen, who live on the remote Starve Acre family farm in the Yorkshire dales in the 1970s. The pair’s relationship is tested when they start experiencing disturbing and inexplicable phenomena, at first through their son and then through the fauna around them.
