While there are only one or two actual scares in this film, it does a great job of building an increasing atmosphere of dread. There are also some pretty grotesque scenes.
Storywise, this concerns a PTSD-afflicted soldier who had been part of some overseas conflict (apparently Eastern European) and is now in London living with other refugees. After their accommodation gets burned down, a nun finds him free housing with a young woman (also apparently Eastern European) on the condition that he helps repair her dilapidated house. However, from the outset not all seems right. The young girl's mother (unseen) is apparently dying, in pain, in the upstairs room. But why all the secrecy about her? And what is the strange runic symbol that he finds in the ceiling. What is the meaning of the night-time flashbacks that he has to his time as a soldier?
Although I'm not sure that the story entirely holds up in terms of logic, it nonetheless kept me spellbound for the duration.
I must say, some of the comments left here by others are baffling to me. Reading not too far between the lines of some of them, it seems that some people don't seem to appreciate a horror story told from the perspective of a female writer and director, or that the lead characters are not English. Well, so much the worse for those viewers. As for being slow - if this hour-and-a-half of effective horror is a strain on your patience, then I wouldn't bother going to see pretty much anything else that is out right now, many of which stretch their stories over two-and-a-half to three hours (Memoria, anyone?).
Storywise, this concerns a PTSD-afflicted soldier who had been part of some overseas conflict (apparently Eastern European) and is now in London living with other refugees. After their accommodation gets burned down, a nun finds him free housing with a young woman (also apparently Eastern European) on the condition that he helps repair her dilapidated house. However, from the outset not all seems right. The young girl's mother (unseen) is apparently dying, in pain, in the upstairs room. But why all the secrecy about her? And what is the strange runic symbol that he finds in the ceiling. What is the meaning of the night-time flashbacks that he has to his time as a soldier?
Although I'm not sure that the story entirely holds up in terms of logic, it nonetheless kept me spellbound for the duration.
I must say, some of the comments left here by others are baffling to me. Reading not too far between the lines of some of them, it seems that some people don't seem to appreciate a horror story told from the perspective of a female writer and director, or that the lead characters are not English. Well, so much the worse for those viewers. As for being slow - if this hour-and-a-half of effective horror is a strain on your patience, then I wouldn't bother going to see pretty much anything else that is out right now, many of which stretch their stories over two-and-a-half to three hours (Memoria, anyone?).