Wake Wood

The bleak realities of grief infuse co-writer/director David Keating's grim but oddly moving modern chiller, which is filled with all the classic horror elements you'd expect from a movie sporting the revamped Hammer brand. Aidan Gillen and Eva Birthistle star as a couple heartbroken over their young daughter's tragic death who relocate to a remote Irish village to start afresh. There they learn of an ancient pagan ceremony that will revive the girl for three days, allowing them to seek proper closure. But after being invoked in the ritual, it's clear the child has returned with evil intent. Gillen and Birthistle excel in their roles, their strong sense of character intensifying some of the gorier jolts, while Ella Connolly makes a vivid mark as their living-dead daughter. Offering a compelling twist on the Faustian pact, this builds to a truly memorable, if starkly horrifying, ending.