Reflective Encounters

“Visceral and haunting, director Matty Crawford relishes making his audience feel uncomfortable. Culling is the kind of film that stays not only in your mind but under your fingernails and tangled up in your chest.

Culling is very clearly made by filmmakers who adore cinema. The allusions to Mark Jenkin and Robert Eggers - one moment, in particular, paying homage to The VVitch’s breakout star Black Phillip - are made with a wryness that doesn’t take you out of the action. Grim, dark humour pierces through the horror of the movie, adding to its building sense of dread. You simply can’t look away from the screen, even when you kind of want to.

With its aesthetic confidence and gritty willingness to find surreal, horror-tinged images hidden in the mundanity of rural life, Culling is the kind of film that will either attract or repel viewers. It feels as though either reaction would be appropriate and satisfying to Crawford and his team, who have created a film that screams out to be felt and experienced, rather than consumed without impact.”

— Malaika Kegode