Darklands

This £500k first feature has been called the Welsh Wicker Man. Writer/director Richards readily acknowledges his debt to the 1973 horror classic - partly out of fanboy respect, partly, one suspects, to defuse accusations of plagiarism. In his least action-oriented role to date, Fairbrass plays Frazer Truick, a Welsh-born, London-raised journo whose investigations into the death of a young steelworker suggest links between the industrial 'accident', fervent nationalist politician David Keller (Finch), and an uppity group of Celtic neo-pagans. Truick's nose for a story and lust for the dead youth's beautiful sister, cub reporter Rachel (King), soon have him knee-deep in desecrated churches, slaughtered pigs, crazy priests and a revivalist political conspiracy. The confident direction and Zoran Djordevic's atmospheric visuals are complemented by a score that effectively blends Test Department's percussive industrial noise with gentler Welsh folk songs.