🔗 Share this article Game Review: Band Frontman Jason Williamson Assumes Character in Sceptical Look at Ecstasy Generation Era Produced by Portishead co-founder the musician-producer, this scabrous if undernourished first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Self-serving drug user David (Marc Bessant) initially steals from an unconscious dealer, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. In no time, he's overturned in the wreckage of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Woodsman (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with no time for city dwellers, he is a fractured society personified: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.” A Shaky Start and Darkly Funny Duel The film begins uncertainly, spending too long on pedantically chronicling David’s attempt to extricate himself from his safety harness, while awkwardly transitioning into flashbacks of his normal activities. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for number one – is firmly made. But these vignettes are too thin to adequately prepare us for what to expect when the Poacher turns up, fuming after David strangles his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing duel unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Poacher withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in embittered discourse. Williamson, exuding heavy threat in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley. Visual Flair and Promo-Inspired Vibe There is only one important plot development, but it results in a hilariously staged rampage on the forest trails that veers toward folk horror. Director John Minton at last unleashes with his ostentatious visuals: where he was focused intently doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full psychedelic grand display, accompanied by a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo than a fully fledged drama, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings et al into successfully graduating from the UK video industry. The film releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.