Starve Acre: Matt Smith, Morfydd Clark star in supernatural horror film

Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark have both appeared in popular horror films in the last couple years – Smith in Last Night in Soho and Clark in Saint Maud – and now they’re set to work together on a new supernatural horror project. Smith and Clark have signed on to star in Starve Acre, which Deadline reports is coming to us from BAFTA-nominated Apostasy creator Daniel Kokotajlo.

Based on a novel by Andrew Michael Hurley, Starve Acre is said to be a “brooding horror film” that will follow

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.

Starve Acre is being 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.

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.

Referring to Kokotajlo as “one of the most exciting filmmakers working today”, Ross said,

Starve Acre is already a genre defining modern classic and Daniel’s singular vision and this exceptional cast will bring great depth and strength to this evocative story.”

It sounds like an interesting story and Smith and Clark are great actors to have in the lead roles, so Starve Acre is one we’ll be keeping an eye on.