Dartmoor Killing *** (2015, Rebecca Night, Gemma-Leah Devereux, Callum Blue, David Hayman, Lewis Peek) – Movie Review

Late twenty-something townies Susan and Becky (Rebecca Night, Gemma-Leah Devereux) leave the town for a quiet weekend hiking on Dartmoor. Haven’t they seen any movies? Don’t go on the moors!

Some weird bloke called Chris (Callum Blue) turns up mysteriously and suspiciously, but it’s OK ‘cos he’s a moor official (or says he is), and he sets off again, but twists his ankle (or says he does) and they agree to help him get home to his nearby farm, then agree to stay the night. Both women seem to distrust Chris but more than that, seem to fancy him. He’s a bit of a creepy charmer on the quiet.

It could be the basis of a Seventies Hammer horror thriller, and plays much like one, with a bit of mystery, a bit of sex and a bit of violence all stirred into the heated stew. Written (with Isabelle Grey) and directed by Bafta-winning Peter Nicholson, the results are compelling without always being entirely credible. As twists follow twists, you keep in there with to find out how the heck it’s going to end. And it ends predictably violently but not otherwise predictably. And that’s excellent.

Callum Blue.

The three main performances are just right for the tricky roles, with Blue’s Chris creepy but charismatic, Night’s Susan outwardly confident and Devereux’s Becky relatively fragile and shy. Night and Devereux develop a credible relationship essential to make the film work.  Nicholson uses some imagination and ingenuity to make it look smart and slick on a fairly low budget, with plenty of moor and sky shots to add atmosphere.

[Spoiler alert] David Hayman plays Chris’s tormented old dad, while Victoria Lucie and Lewis Peek are young Becky and young Chris, so now you know that some secret from Chris’s damaged past is likely to be revealed. I’m hoping that rather than a spoiler, that’s a teaser to see the movie.

Making his fiction feature debut here, Peter Nicholson is known as a documentary director for Pompeii: The Last Day (2003) and Nuremberg: Goering’s Last Stand (2006) for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Specialist Factual Film.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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Lewis Peek: Actor, Devonshire Lad, Ted Carkeek in Poldark 2.