The following contains spoilers for Starve Acre, now playing in select theaters and is available for digital purchase
Summary
- Starve Acre is a chilling horror movie that hits harder for new parents, preying on universal fears.
- The film blends supernatural elements with parental grief, highlighting the horror of losing a child.
- Starve Acre's ending showcases the terrifying lengths parents may go to, leaving a haunting impact.
Starve Acre is a very good horror movie on its own merits, but it's especially terrifying new parents like me. As a movie fan who became a father last July, I've been steadily seeing films in entirely new lights. This is probably most pronounced with the horror genre, which has a history of subverting the classical family structure in their storytelling. One of the best recent examples of how more impactful some horror movies hit me now that I'm a Dad is Starve Acre, Daniel Kokotajlo's haunting adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley's novel of the same name.
Starring Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark as parents dealing with both the loss of their child and the mysterious supernatural elements that may be manipulating the land they live on, Starve Acre is a moody highlight of one of the best years of horror movies I've ever seen. I expect would have enjoyed the film's strong performances and execution even if I wasn't a Dad. However, it hits far harder now that I am one, and underscores a common thread within the horror genre that makes these films all the more effective at terrifying me.
Related
The Best Horror Movie Of Every Decade
While every decade has its fair share of remarkable horror films, there's a standout every 10 years that surpasses the rest.
Starve Acre Is A Great Horror Movie (And Especially Scary For Parents)
Starve Acre Targets Those With Children
Starve Acre is eerie and heartbreaking in equal measures, but is an especially potent dark tale for new parents like me. Starve Acre is largely about the fallout of the young Owen's suffering a fatal apparent asthma attack in the first act. Although the film had teased the existence of wood sprites and a mysterious haunting figure known as Jack Grey, Daniel Kokotajlo's direction and script play things just ambiguous enough that Owen's death and the ensuing grief feels ripped from real life. The moody atmosphere flips back and forth well between the unsettling and tragic tones.
The film uses its supernatural elements to prey on universal parental fears. Owen attacking a pony at a local fair sets off the film's early drama. The act lands Owen in therapy, but the film implies it could be the supernatural force tied to the land. Regardless of the truth, it raises the unsettling question of which would be worse — something is haunting my child, or there is something dangerous within him? Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark find a perfect balance between unconditional love and painful unease that makes Starve Acre all the more effective.
Horror Has Been Targeting Parents For Generations
The Genre Has Always Mined Realistic Family Fears For Great Horror
Starve Acre does a terrific job of blending its uneasy supernatural elements with very real parental fears. It's also well-trodden territory for the horror genre. I've always understood how horror will use children as targets and plot devices within the genre, as a child in danger or killed can shatter so many lives. Films like Don't Look Now, Pet Sematary, The Boogeyman, and Hereditary underscored the natural horror and grief associated with the loss of a child. It was always effective, but as a horror fan with a one-year-old, it hits a lot harder.
The plot device feels pointed now in a way that I could understand before, but now fully comprehend. Starve Acre does a fantastic job of exploring the sheer volume of emotions one feels when faced with tragedy, ranging from vindictive outburts to flashes of empathy. Richard's visions of a hare's skeleton regenerating could be seen as a splintering mind, and Juliette's delay in saving Owen is hinted to be supernaturally driven or a moment of horrible weakness. The fears of being a flawed parent are real, and Starve Acre showcases the ways that could happen.
Related
10 Best Horror Movies About Grief
From Hereditary to The Changeling to Don't Look Now, some of the greatest and most harrowing horror movies ever made deal with the theme of grief.
Starve Acre's Ending Makes The Horror All The More Effective
An Unsettling Reminder Of The Lengths Parents Will Go For Family
Starve Acre's ending only underscores the horror that can be found and embraced as a parent. Through the stories of Gordon and the rituals of his wife, Richard and Juliette steadily accept the mysterious nature around them and the necessity for sacrifices. By the end of the film, the pair have murdered Richard's colleague Steven and Juliette's sister Harrie, seemingly appeasing Jack Grey and the mystical forces around them to form a new family unit with the resurrected hare. It's an unsettling portrait of a domestic bliss, born from betrayal and death.
The willingness of Richard and Juliette to kill those close to them to get a child back highlights the lengths parents can go, and it's one of the scariest concepts in the world. It forces me to consider how I would contend with these kind of circ*mstances happening, and how the grief of losing my son could transform my myself and my life into a horror. Starve Acre isn't the first horror movie about parenthood trauma I've watched since becoming a Dad, but it is the one that has haunted me the most since seeing it.
Starve Acre (2024)
When their son starts acting strangely, a couple unwittingly allow dark and sinister forces into their home, awakening a long-dormant ancient evil rooted deep in the countryside.
- Director
- Daniel Kokotajlo
- Writers
- Daniel Kokotajlo , Andrew Michael Hurley
- Cast
- Matt Smith , Morfydd Clark , Erin Richards , Sean Gilder , Robert Emms , Roger Barclay , Matilda Firth , Rocco Haynes
