SPIDERHOLE

Molly (Emma Griffiths Malin) sits in a doctor's waiting room watching a news broadcast on TV concerning the disappearance of a young girl named Daisy, who went missing ten years ago to the say.

Following her health check, Molly returns to University where she studies life art. After class, she meets up with fellow students Zoe (Amy Noble), Toby (George Maguire) and Luke (Reuben-Henry Biggs).

The four of them jump in their camper van and drive into London looking for a vacant house which they can use to squat in. As they muse, squatting is unlawful - but not illegal. So, why not live tax-free and without the sufferance of a mortgage or renting costs? That's their reasoning.

The first house they spy is, unfortunately, secured too professionally for them to break into. No worries, the second house they stumble upon is even bigger. Excitedly, the quartet make their way inside.

Ooh, it's a dark, dank-looking place. But, a few bottles of beer and a spot of sex later, and the kids seem to be content with their new abode. Even if there are strange noises emanating from within the walls.

By the time they reach the dead of night though, the girls begin to feel unsafe and plead with the boys to take them elsewhere. Anywhere, they say - a park bench, a police station ...

But no, Toby convinces them - and Luke, who also develops reservations - to stay the night in their "new home", promising it'll look much better in the morning.

When Molly falls sick, the group finally resolve to move on ... but find that they are locked in, behind impenetrable steel doors. It gets worse: Zoe is suffering from a nasty gash in her leg, and evidence suggests that someone else has also been in the house recently - and met with a sticky end.

As thick as this bunch are, they decide to traverse the darker recesses of this forbidding house, armed only with torches. They believe they are victims of a disgruntled land-owner, and are indignant in the knowledge that, as squatters, they "have rights too".

The only potential lifeline they can see is a small peephole in one of the doors, offering them a glimpse of the outside world.

The tension mounts even further when Toby is separated from the rest of the group, and the remaining trio make some disturbing discoveries in the house ...

It's unfair to divulge anything more about writer-director Daniel Simpson's feature debut, as the bulk of the remaining hour (the entire thing is an economic 79 minutes in length) focuses on the group's attempts at escaping their tomb-like prison, and the revelations that crop up along the way. Like, how they happen to have chosen the worst house imaginable to break into ...

The denouement is satisfying if not altogether unexpected. The action is unflinching for the most part (though never gratuitous in the gore stakes), and the tone is kept satisfyingly mordant. We even get a decent menacing villain, devoid of all that wise-cracking one-liner crap that American horror filmmakers mistake for 'cool'.

SPIDERHOLE also looks superb. It's beautifully shot, utilising carefully considered framing and meticulously planned lighting to maximum effect. Vinit Borrison deserves a mention for his slick, attractive cinematography. So too do editors Johnny Megalos and Jeremiah Munce, who keep the action brisk while affording the viewer ample opportunities to savour the polished visuals.

Jason Cooper and Oliver Kraus' score is highly impressive too in an accomplished and yet old-school manner: all strings and stirring synths.

The young cast offer very strong, convincing performances and the script is plausible enough. Simpson handles the mounting hysteria well, reining in his colleagues where needs be to provide a taut but cleverly restrained horror thriller.

This screener disc presented the film in anamorphic 2.35:1 (the original aspect ratio) and it looked very good indeed. Bold colours, sharp definition and solid blacks aided the film's welcoming aesthetics nicely.

The English 2.0 audio was just as good, playing loud and clear without interference throughout.

There were no menus or extras on the disc provided.

A good-looking, thinly plotted but involving and well-acted film, SPIDERHOLE announces former Channel 4 cameraman and music video director Simpson as a talent to look out for in the future.

Review by Stu Willis