Starve Acre: Matt Smith, Morfydd Clark supernatural horror film secures distribution deals

Matt Smith (Last Night in Soho) and Morfydd Clark (Saint Maud) star in the supernatural horror film Starve Acre, which is coming our way from BAFTA-nominated Apostasy creator Daniel Kokotajlo. We don’t know exactly when the movie is going to be released, but The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Starve Acre just secured multiple distribution deals. Brainstorm Media will be releasing the film in North America, while BFI Distribution will be bringing it to the U.K. and Ireland. The list of deals continues, with other distributors including X Verleih (Germany and Switzerland), Blitz (Ex-Yugoslavia), Galapagos (Poland), Front Row (Middle East), Klockworx (Japan), and Terry Steiner (Airlines). 

Starve Acre recently had its World Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. 

Based on a novel by Andrew Michael Hurley, Starve Acre is said to be a “brooding horror film” that follows Richard and Juliette, whose seemingly idyllic rural English family life is thrown into turmoil when their son Ewan starts acting out of character. At Starve Acre, their remote family home, archaeologist Richard buries himself in exploring a folkloric myth that the ancient oak tree on their land is imbued with phenomenal powers, while Juliette turns to the local community to find some kind of peace.

The project was developed with BBC Film and funded by BBC Film, Access Entertainment, and the BFI. The film is being produced by Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell of House Productions. Ross said we should expect Starve Acre to be “a genre defining modern classic”.

Copies of Hurley’s novel can be picked up at THIS LINK. Here’s the description: The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby’s son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place. Juliette, convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree. Starve Acre is a devastating new novel by the author of the prize-winning bestseller The Loney. It is a novel about the way in which grief splits the world in two and how, in searching for hope, we can so easily unearth horror.

Laura Dos Santos, BFI Distribution’s acquisitions manager, provided the following statement: “A magnificent tribute to the British folk horror tradition which has always been in BFI Distribution’s DNA, Starve Acre is also a wonderfully original film. It will enthral a wide range of tastes in the UK and in Ireland – genre fans, cinephiles and beyond.“

Are you looking forward to Starve Acre, and are you glad to hear the film has secured so many distribution deals? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.