''Martyrs Lane'' is a 2021 British gothic

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by Ruth Platt, produced by Christine Alderson and Katie Hodgkin and starring

Denise Gough Denise Gough ( ; born 28 February 1980) is an Irish actress. On television, she is best known for her roles in the BBC Two crime drama '' Paula'' (2017), the ITV miniseries '' Too Close'' (2021) and the Disney+ series '' Andor'' (2022–2025). H ...

, Steven Cree, Anastasia Hille, Hannah Rae and Kiera Thompson.

Plot

A 10 year-old girl named Leah (Kiera Thompson) lives in a large

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and every night she's visited by a mysterious guest who offers her knowledge.

Cast

as Sarah * Steven Cree as Thomas * Anastasia Hille as Lillian * Hannah Rae as Bex * Kiera Thompson as Leah

Reception

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an approval rating of 91%, based on 32 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Well-acted by its young leads, ''Martyrs Lane'' tells a slow-burning ghost story that gathers real emotional weight".

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Nick Allen writing for the website

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times ...

gave the film 31/2 out of 4 starts, stating: "'Martyrs Lane' is ruled by grief, often dulled and overdrawn by it, but its young surrogates give us the unique opportunity to see its themes presented without compromise". Phil Hoad from the newspaper

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

gave "Martyrs Lane" three out of five starts, saying: "Ruth Platt’s third film is at first almost too subtle for its own good. As Leah’s new friend directs her to small objects around the house and grounds, including minuscule letter-bearing dice, Platt’s storytelling is high-risk, almost obscure, leaving viewers much to infer". Wendy Ide from the British

film magazine Film periodicals combine discussion of individual films, genres and directors with in-depth considerations of the medium and the conditions of its production and reception. Their articles contrast with film reviewing in newspapers and magazines whi ...

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

called it "a picture which would make a credible addition to midnight-movie strands, but which has an appeal which should extend beyond horror audiences. Tonally, with its emphasis on nurture and parent-child relations, there’s a kinship with films like Under the Shadow".

References

External links

* * * {{Metacritic film 2021 horror films 2021 films British ghost films 2020s English-language films 2020s British films English-language horror films