Taking cues from excellent Spanish ghost stories like The Devil’s Backbone (2001) and El Orfanato (2007), Ruth Platt’s Martyrs Lane offers plenty of well-timed creeps without resorting to the usual hackneyed tropes found in most American horror productions. Set in a large house in the English countryside, Martyrs Lane forgoes jump scares and gore, opting instead for atmosphere and mystery. The result is a wonderfully oppressive sense of foreboding that permeates every dark corner and shadowed background of the film.
Lead by a pair of stellar child performances from Kiera Thompson and Sienna Sayer, Martyrs Lane might not break new ground in the Gothic Horror tradition, but its young stars embody the senses of sadness and loneliness (and, eventually, viciousness) that have come to define the most tragic of genre heroines. It might not be fresh, but its old-fashioned feel is as comfortable as it is unnerving.
On a superficially slight downside, the film’s climax does take a momentary turn for the cheesy. However, this downturn is almost immediately offset by a solid, simple ending that exemplifies the kind of sorrow and loss one might expect from the long-established genre. And while you might guess the solution to the central mystery early on, there’s still no shortage of ghostly visages and eerie forewarnings along the way to keep you plenty interested and unsettled.
Originally published by ASHEVILLE MOVIES.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.