Starring: Sean Harris, Alun Armstrong

Directed by Matthew Holness

Available to rent now

 Disgraced children’s puppeteer Philip returns to his childhood home in Norfolk, intent on destroying Possum, a hideous puppet he carries around with him in a leather case.

Another day and another movie set in East Anglia’s fens with a hideous arachnid-human puppet… erm, yes. Whatever you might think of Matthew Holness’ (Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) feature debut, you couldn’t accuse it of being generic or run of the mill. Like the puppet that languishes in the protagonist’s case, it’s very much its own beast.

I can’t imagine anyone better than Sean Harris (Prometheus) playing the role. This isn’t really about his descent into madness – he’s a good way there already as the movie begins – rather we get to experience his PTSD as he revisits the scenes of traumatic events in his past and opens some very raw wounds. Tired, wired and desperately unhappy, Harris’ Philip is of an indeterminate age and mental condition, and when a local schoolchild goes missing there’s really only one suspect.

Alun Armstrong (Van Helsing) played the original ‘master of the house’ Thenardier in musical Les Miserables, a grimy and deplorable lowlife, but his Uncle Maurice here is far more repulsive. With teeth nicotine-stained to a dirty brown, a mocking tone and plenty to say for himself, this is a hideous character, and his interaction with Philip is painful.

Holness makes great use of the East Anglian landscape, frequently using magic hour sunsets to lengthen the shadows and provide a caramel glow against abandoned buildings and desolate fenland. Mentions also for the Radiophonic Workshop who don’t so much score the movie as provide an aural landscape that mirrors Philip’s troubled mind. From the simple melody that accompanies verses of the Possum nursery rhyme, to thuds, growls and screeches as Philip’s mind conspires against him, the soundtrack is as much a character as the Possum itself. And what a beast that is. Appropriately it did remind me of that weird twisted creature that Harris’ character transformed into in Prometheus, a mass of twisted limbs with a grinning skull face facing in an impossible direction.

Verdict: Hypnotic, beautiful and repulsive, don’t expect any of the laughs you’ve experienced in the director’s other work. Norfolk looks beautiful, but there’s some twisted, damaged people living there. What’s in the case? If ever someone was carrying emotional baggage around with them, it’s Philip. Just don’t invite him to perform a puppet show at your kid’s party. 8/10

Nick Joy