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‘You only get one take in life.’ 

Ever since Blair Witch made found footage huge at the cinema, people have been trying to catch that particular lightning in a bottle again. From the real dregs like The Frankenstein Theory and Moth to gems like The Last Exorcism and Paranormal Activity (the franchise that’s come the closest, I’d argue), people have certainly had a go over the years. Now here we have Crone Wood, a low budget (another bonus for found footage filmmakers) Irish horror movie, but which category does this one fit into?

Encouraged by a girl he met in a bar, city-boy Danny (Ed Murphy from Reign and Vikings) agrees to go camping in the middle of nowhere. Hailey (Line of Duty’s Elva Trill) knows just the place, because she originally came from this neck of… well, the woods. Crone Wood to be precise, where they explore abandoned ruins and generally lark about until Danny hears something in the middle of the night and goes to investigate.

What follows is a tense hour or more of cat and mouse, during which the couple have their belongings snatched – including that bane of any horror movie, the mobile phones – and try to make it to safety, or at least get help. Who will survive and what will be left of them…?

From that last line, you can probably tell that one of the influences here is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – especially when it comes to those creepy masks. But Crone Wood also draws on other classics like The Wicker Man, Deliverance, The Hills Have Eyes, as well as more recent fare like White Settlers… I would also throw in Midsommar, but this one was actually made in 2016, before Ari Aster’s masterpiece, although it definitely shares at least some of its DNA; same goes for last year’s TV show, The Third Day.

But Crone Wood does manage to blend all of these together into something that we haven’t really seen before, in spite of the fact you might guess where it’s going well before the halfway mark. It’s extremely well-acted, which lends weight to the believability factor, and writer/director Mark Sheridan does his best to keep you on your toes throughout; suspense is definitely one of his strengths. It also manages to present a sort of feminist commentary on the failings of modern man, which is no mean feat given the subject matter here. And all that balances out the more tongue-in-cheek stuff, like having a character named Mother May Eye (Geraldine McAlinden). Think about it…

Verdict: All in all, an effective little chiller that hints at good things to come in the future. ‘Be a man!’   7/10

Paul Kane