Cub

This microbudget Belgian thriller gets off to a solid start, as a troupe of bickering boy scouts heads off to camp in a remote stretch of woodland, unphased by their pack leader’s gruesome tales of werewolves and mysterious abductions. Front and centre is Sam (Maurice Luijten), a guarded, defensive youth of few words and even fewer friends. The boys make camp and bed in for the night. But what’s that masked figure doing, lurking in the shadows? And who keeps setting off all booby traps?

Gleefully referencing everything from ‘Suspiria’ to ‘The Cabin in the Woods’, this is a horror movie made by and for genre fans – but that’s not necessarily a good thing. First-time feature director Jonas Govaerts handles the shocks and scares competently, and the pace is well maintained.

But the characters are a forgettable bunch – the script itself seems to lose track of at least three of them, who simply wander off never to return – and the lack of backstory or motivation for the identikit-nutjob villain is frustrating. It all leads to a spiky, gruesome twist ending that almost works, but doesn’t quite ring true – much like the film as a whole.