Microbudget horror movies are ten-a-penny these days, and at least nine of those are unwatchable. So it’s rewarding to strike it lucky with a film like ‘Citadel’, an unsettling slice of urban nastiness. Aneurin Barnard is Tommy, a young single dad whose wife was murdered by the gang of feral kids who roam their Glasgow estate. But as the local potty-mouth priest (James Cosmo) warns him, these are no ordinary latchkey brats, but something far more dangerous – and they’re coming for Tommy’s daughter.
‘Citadel’ doesn’t fully hold together: the characters are a bit thin, and the plotting can be clumsy and workmanlike. But first-time feature director Foy knows his horror, and the major setpieces – the devastating opening, a mid-film home invasion, the nailbitingly clammy climax – are seriously well handled. And despite its defiantly un-PC ‘fear-a-hoodie’ message, the film nails its urban setting, filling every frame with a richly sustained sense of despair, decay and dread.