A father and daughter move into a mansion for the winter months to maintain and keep it ready for its owners. Soon after their arrival, something odd starts to happen and each of them is affected differently.
Written and directed by John Farrelly, this ghost story (as the title implies) takes place in a bygone era in a setting that is both creepy and beautiful. The story itself has a lot of good ideas and some truly creepy moments. The writing here is solid and so is the direction, pulling the viewer in with a rather slow burn of a story until the last part where things go a bit crazier and should come with several trigger warnings some for the story itself, one for strobe effect which is quite disagreeable and feels very unnecessary. The jolt this strobe effect adds is something that the story itself brings as well, so the use of flashing effects could easily have been avoided. As for the other two trigger warning, they will not be discussed in detail to not spoil the film but be aware that this is not going to be for everyone.
The cast here is composed of four people total, with Livvy Hill playing Máire Finegan and Tom Kerrisk as her father Éamon Finegan. The two of them have an interesting connection that leads to interactions that feel like a father and daughter duo with many issues who aren’t all that close, but do not have much of a choice in the matter. They are stuck together and the back and forth and tug of power between them creates a good part of the film’s tension, something the two actors bring to life in a very believable manner. That being said, as the film advances, their power struggles and interactions shift which leads to the ending (mentioned above). Between Hill and Kerrisk, the film, its story and its characters, are in good hands. The do fantastic work. The other two cast members here are Anthony Murphy and Tom Stafford as the land steward and the coachman who get very few scenes, but the actors make the most of their limited time to add to the human element and the atmosphere.
The film around this cast and story looks stunning. The use of light and dark, the way it is filmed (especially in nighttime sequences) works just right, adding to the film’s mood, atmosphere, and building dread. The look of the film is a very large part of what works here, and the images created by John Farrelly and Ross Power (along with their visual team) are just right. Of course, the editing by Farrelly also helps greatly in creating pace and mood. These things are also likely where the decision to use a flash/strobe effect near the end was made and that one was not a great idea.
In terms of a ghost story, some of the elements here work really well while some will make you want more (and in some cases less) of them. The overall effect here is a solid creepy film with good writing and direction and great performances. It is advertised as the very first horror film that is fully in Irish language, something that helps with the immersion into the story but also something some will find difficult to follow. For those unafraid of subtitles, it is a great watch with a few genuinely creepy moments, just be mindful of the strobe effect and trigger warnings.