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Possum

1/10

Stars: Sean Harris, Alun Armstrong

Director: Matthew Holness

More public lottery money down the drain in this devastatingly unfrightening 'horror' film in which a disgraced ex-puppeteer (the inscrutable 'Mission Impossible' villain Harris) trudges across rough ground to the dilapidated home of his demonic old uncle (Armstrong) who seems to have taught him all he knows.

The puppeteer has a big black secret in his holdall - a malevolent puppet with a white head from which dangle eight huge spider legs. The puppet seems to have a life of its own, although we never really see it move. All efforts to destroy it fail.

The mystery, though, is why anyone would want to create such a thing in the first place. The uncle, perhaps, holds the key; 'The parcel opened,' he recites, 'and out sprang the black, long-legged possum man.'

There's a subplot about a missing boy which seems to be resolved at the end, but, by and large, this slow and static wannabe chiller is blindingly boring.

The best you say about it is that Harris and Armstrong are both well cast.

David Quinlan

UK 2017. UK Distributor: Bulldog (BFI). Colour by Cinelab.
84 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 21 Oct 2018