The Mill Killers
Official synopsis: Inspired by giallo films, The Mill Killers sees four friends bonded by a dark secret who find themselves consumed with the fear they’re being watched, but has their past finally caught up to them or is it all in their heads?
It’s difficult to describe the plot of The Mill Killers (formerly titled Scopophobia; U.K., 2024) beyond the above synopsis without giving away spoilers, as writer/director Aled Owen winningly peels back layers of narrative elements that further escalate the tension and further the story. So let’s take that steady flow of intriguing reveals as our first positive take on the film. Also well done are the relationships and machinations between scopophobe Rhiannon (Catrin Jones), mean girl Erin (Emma Stacey), newly engaged Mia (Ellen Jane-Thomas), and Sam (Bethany Williams-Potter), who has an unstated crush on Rhiannon — longtime friends and sometimes rivals, whether certain members of the group knew that last part or not.
Owen, who also has an important supporting role as an old flame of Rhiannon’s, deftly takes tropes from giallo and the late 1990s “I know what you did” horror subgenre and brings them to new, unexpected places, playing with viewer expectations wonderfully — with high props going to subverting the overused voice box trope. The four main stars all give solid performances, playing their characters both in their 20s and also at high school age. They inhabit their frenemies roles impressively, without going over the top into scenery chewing.
Owen helms with confidence and style. The Mill Killers is an impressive slice of Welsh horror and a shining example of lower-budget U.K. independent fear fare.
To Thy Rest
Official synopsis: This spine-chiller sees a medium’s sanity put to the test when he’s invited to perform a séance at a mysterious hotel and his sense of reality becomes increasingly distorted by eerie visions and disturbing encounters.
In Finnish film To Thy Rest, Rikki Chamberlain gives an engaging performance as Arthur Sydenham Sharp, a U.K. medium whose tour sees him going to a remote hotel in Finland for a seance — the less-than-welcoming hotel manager refers to it as a “performance” — and the highly skeptical locals are irate that he is trying to sell his books, let alone be there at all. Sharp goes through some Groundhog Day-style events and can’t seem to escape the property. Meanwhile, disturbing visions and a local mystery create new terrors for both him and the film’s viewers.
Director Darren McStay, who cowrote the screenplay with Henry Valo, invests his stranger-in-a-strange-land horror film with mystery and ambiguity. The main supporting players all shine in solid performances, but it is Chamberlain’s impressive turn as the initially frustrated, then curious, and eventually frightened medium plagued by shocking visions that drives To Thy Rest.
The Mill Killers and To Thy Rest, from Miracle Media and Reel 2 Reel Films, are available on digital from April 21.
