A brief flirtation with a pair of attractive girls provides a flashpoint, causing the rising tensions to ignite, but diplomatic elder statesman Logan (Tony Curran) defuses the situation. On the first night of the trip, Marcus and Vaughn are too well-lubricated in the village pub to realise that they are trampling all over the sensibilities of the touchy locals. Martin McCann previously found himself in similarly a hostile countryside environment in the lead role in The Survivalist. Of the key cast members, Jack Lowden, in the more sympathetic role of Vaughn, was recently seen in Dunkirk and played the young Morrissey in England Is Mine. The Island (2007) was a nominee for a Scottish Bafta award The Gasman (2014) won best horror at the Limelight Film Awards.

Palmer makes his feature directing debut on the back of several well-received short films. The smouldering animosity of an impoverished small town towards two outsiders, combined with the contained tension as a precarious alibi collapses, one chance event at a time, means that the film should resonate with audiences looking for effective genre material. Palmer adeptly creates a suffocating atmosphere, all glowering wood-panelled walls which seem to close in, and defeated-looking hunting trophies.

Subsequently, it will be available to stream globally from June 29 th on Netflix. This confident first feature receives its world premiere in Edinburgh, where it is eligible for the Michael Powell Award.

Palmer adeptly creates a suffocating atmosphere Two childhood friends, father-to-be Vaughn (Jack Lowden) and his brash buddy Marcus (Martin McCann), find themselves backed into a corner after a hunting trip to the rural highlands of Scotland is blighted by a tragic accident. Make one fateful wrong decision early on and risk facing an impossible choice in the final act: both the set-up and trajectory of Matt Palmer’s breathlessly taut thriller may be familiar to genre fans, but there is no denying the grim momentum of this story.

Calibre movie cast