A ghost not horror story, Martyrs Lane from the BFI is much more satisfying than you might think, given the limited amount of information we had about the project, before wrapping ourselves up in it.
This reminds me recently of the likes of Saint Maud, that is also heavy on the atmosphere which edges towards malevolence at times and whilst not spattered with bloodlust or endowed with too many jump scares, this supernatural drama unravels exquisitely and the pacing is absolutely spot on for the creeps to get under your skin.
When Leah starts to get nightly visits at her bedroom window from a mysterious girl, giving her directions to find things that were lost, Leah begins to piece together a story of loss and a past she had no knowledge of, that profoundly affected her family.
The plot really is as predictable as it gets, which would have been a bad thing, had it not been presented so delicately, with outstanding performances from the young girls, Kiera Thompson and Sienna Sayer.
This tale of loss feels like it had its scares thrown in, however, to try and fulfil a template that enabled classification, as this could arguably have been achieved without a paranormal element altogether.