Eight British films under the generic title of New British Cinema show at the ICA this month. So far only one has cemented a distribution deal — Summer Scars by Julian Richards.
It has six 14-year-olds playing truant in the woods where they are befriended by a possibly deranged drifter (Kevin Howarth), who imposes his will on them with a soldier-like game apparently designed to test their endurance.
Richards doesn’t seem to know whether this is a psychological thriller or an out-and-out horror but he gets good enough playing from Howarth and the kids to make us regret the bloody denouement.
The Hide is a talky two-hander made by Marek Losey largely in a shed on the windswept Suffolk mudflats.
The owner of the shed is an obsessive bird-watcher looking for the elusive social plover, who is suddenly disturbed by the arrival of a younger fugitive, perhaps from the storm or possibly from the police.
Alex Macqueen and Philip Campbell are excellent as the pair, but they can’t entirely sustain even this admittedly short running time. Based on a play, the story would perhaps be more suitable as theatre than a piece of cinema, though Losey orchestrates it all with some skill.
Summer Scars
Cert: 15
