Good news for British horror fans: with Amulet still in cinemas, the next big thing might already be on the horizon. Cornerstone Films have announced that Starve Acre will shoot this spring, helmed by Apostasy director Daniel Kokotajlo.

According to reports, Kokotajlo’s second feature will be a rural supernatural horror, based on the novel of the same name by Andrew Michael Hurley. Here’s the Amazon blurb for the book, although it goes without saying that they might have changed a thing or two (or a hundred!) for the screen adaptation:

‘The worst thing possible has happened. Richard and Juliette Willoughby’s son, Ewan, has died suddenly at the age of five. Starve Acre, their house by the moors, was to be full of life, but is now a haunted place.

Juliette, convinced Ewan still lives there in some form, seeks the help of the Beacons, a seemingly benevolent group of occultists. Richard, to try and keep the boy out of his mind, has turned his attention to the field opposite the house, where he patiently digs the barren dirt in search of a legendary oak tree.’

Richard and Juliette will be played by Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark who appeared in two of the biggest British horrors of recent years. Smith – best known as the Eleventh Doctor – showed us his darker side in Last Night in Soho, while Clark gave a stunning performance as the titular star of Saint Maud. Their new film Starve Acre has the backing of BBC Film, Access Entertainment, and the BFI.

Speaking personally, we see a lot of really good smaller films coming out of the UK, and you can find a lot of them on streaming platforms – for instance – but it’s always exciting when a big title comes along. So, I’ll be looking forward to Starve Acre and crossing my fingers for a wide theatrical release.