Molly Crows

UK 2014
produced by
Flashgun Films
directed by Ray Wilkes
starring Mercy Gaiger, Samir Mohamed Ali, Miles Rodziewicz, George Newton, Pete Noakes, Layla Randle-Conde, Ernest Vernon, Philip Emery, Bruce Jackson, Natalie Redman, Mel Coudert, Charlie Glossop, Daniel Jordan, Katya Greer, Alexandra Eve Tordoff, Esther Mae Greene, Chrostpher Keddie, Carol Plant, Val Monk, James Stuckley, Walter Mayer, Muriel Ralphs, Rachael Harding, John Geiger, Brooklyn Baker, John Healey, Tony Rotherham, Mark Olly, Sam Cullingworth, Dave Underhill, Jason Weston, Aaron Jeffcoate, Yvonne Baum, Phil Sykes, Yulia Brereton, Ali Currey, Ellie Bindman, Natasha Eden Tordoff, Charlie Diane Green, Charlotte Clifford, Gemma James, Luana Ribeira (as Eirian Cohen), Ella Busow, Graham Cheadle, Kiera Monk, Liam M. Edwards, Lucy Flanaghan, Toby Turpin
written by Ray Wilkes, music by Daniel Nixon, songs by Julia Dowler, Layla Randle-Conde, Daniel Nixon, Ali MC and New Dub City Sound, Geraint Hill, Rhys Thompson, special makeup effects by Ruth Parry, assistant directors: Phil Sykes, Layla Randle-Conde

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Seven year old Jess (Mercy Gaiger) and her alcoholic mum (Samira Mohamed Ali) have moved to Haslem, a quiet village in the countryside - but soon find out they're not exactly welcomed here. And while mum's too out of it to notice most of the time, Jess receives the brunt of it, being bullied and the like. Now Jess's mum really makes an effort to stand up for her daughter, but who will take a drunk like her seriously, right? If anything, the attacks on Jess increase, until she's brutalized by two school kids (Charlie Glossop, Alexandra Eve Tordoff), and something inside her snaps ... and suddenly the two kids are attacked by something not quite from this era or dimenstion ...

Detective Wells (Miles Rodziewicz) is sent to Haslem to investigate the strange goings-on and deaths happening there, of which the episode with Jess's bullies is only a fragment, and he finds more and more evidence that simply does not match, that suggests witchcraft - but when he questions the townsfolks about the village's past steeped in black magic and witchhunts, he only receives doors slammed into his face. At the same time though, the townfolks turn to the local priest (Peter Noakes) to perform an exorcism - and things only go downhills from there ...

Layla Randle-Conde (under heavy makeup) plays a witch killed in a flashback sequence, George Newton her chief witchhunter.

Without coming across in the least as retro or something, this is a pleasently retro horror thriller that isn't so much concerned with explaining its story away or relies all that much on special effects, but rather tells its supernatural mystery in a properly mysterious way, always putting atmosphere over spectacle, and moving at a relaxed enough space to let things develop without ever getting boring. And a fine ensemble cast certainly helps this movie as well. Reportedly, this movie was made on a very low budget ... but it doesn't show in the least.

Great genre entertainment, recommended!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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