Two YouTube stars, Louise and Thea are on their way to a advert shoot, where they are posing as caterers, but planning to steal clothing and other items from the shoot. At the shoot, the people there find themselves under a supernatural threat…

Written by Matthew and Tori Butler-Hart (with the cast addiing aditional material, Dagr is a found footage/folk horror film. The set-up is straightforward, the two strands of the story coming together in a way that may be a nod to [REC]2. In the first, we have the two vloggers, Louise (Riz Moritz) and Thea (Ellie Duckles), on their journey to the house. As characters, they walk that thin line of being funny, but never annoying. This is due to the writing but also the performances of the two actors. They are very good indeed, creating characters you find yourself caring about. The second strand has a team shooting an advert at the house, Tori (Tori Butler-Hart) is the director of the ad, Matt (Matt Barber) and Emma (Emma King) are the actors for it, Gray (Graham Butler) and Hattie (Hattie Chapman) the other members of Tori’s team. Again the writing giving the actors good material to work with, as they shoot what does, admittedly, look as if it might be a bit of pretentious ad.

The film takes its time between the two strands of the story, giving both time to develop before they converge. Matthew Butler-Hart directs the film, staging the horror when it comes very well indeed. The film runs to around 77 minutes, but the pacing of the film is good.

It might have been tempting to go for a bigger, perhaps overblown ending, Admittedly for a low budget film that may have been out of reach, but that plays into the film, as the end here is a good creepy one.

If I have a criticism of the film, it is perhaps that the lore or legend behind what is going perhaps needed developing a little more and while the ending works, don’t get me wrong, the fate of one character is left unknown, even with an onscreen note in the final moments.

However, these are minor flaws in what is an unsettling film that lets the horror build without the need to resort to jump scares.

The cast are all good, the music from Tom Kane is not bad and the footage itself (mostly shot on iPhones) is not as frantic or shaky as some found footage films. The way the story is structured is well thought out indeed. There is a great deal to like here.

I love folk horror films. I love found footage films. A film that combines both is always going to push my buttons.

And Dagr (which has Ian McKellen among its executive producers) certainly does that.

An impressive, creepy little horror film.

Rating: **** out of 5

** DISCLOSURE: I know the filmmakers, Matthew and Tori Butler-Hart a little and I also contributed to this film’s Kickstarter campaign **