This cult film from Veronika Franz is a minestrone of all the normal horror ingredients. We have Scary children, a new mum with a weird backstory, a dad who is naive enough to leave this motley crew in an isolated cabin in a snowstorm.
Every scene makes you think ‘don’t do that!’, don’t go there!, and floorboards creak and strange things happen. The kids hate the new mum who was responsible for the suicide of their real mum when dad went off with her and they plan a sick trick on her that badly misfires. The new mum – Grace, has a very troubled history as the only surviving member of a death cult run by her father that is only kept in check by a steady supply of medications that the children have gone and hidden. So we get a slaying in the snow storm and the daddy gets back just in time to watch his mad girlfriend in action slaying the kids. The movie is atmospheric and beautifully shot but very little in the way of original plotting.
Catch it at the BFI London Film Festival.