''Winter Ridge'' is a 2018 British

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Dom Lenoir and starring

Matt Hookings Matt Hookings (born 30 July 1990) is a Welsh actor, producer, writer, and entrepreneur. He founded Camelot Films in 2013 in London, United Kingdom. Early life and education Hookings was born on 30 July 1990 in Newport, South Wales, to a professio ...

, Olwen Catherine Kelly,

Michael McKell Michael McKell (born 10 February 1959) is an English actor and singer. His career began in music, co-writing various songs for Toyah Willcox, Dollar and Julien Clerc, as well as embarking on a brief solo career. McKell then focused on acting and ...

Hannah Waddingham Hannah Waddingham (born 28 July 1974) is an English actress, singer, and television presenter. She is known for playing businesswoman Rebecca Welton in ''Ted Lasso'' (2020–present), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and two Critics' Ch ...

Justin McDonald Justin McDonald (born 21 March 1983) is a British actor of film, television and theatre. Early life Justin Mark McDonald was born in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear in North East England. His keen interest in art and literature led him into acting a ...

and Alan Ford. It was written by Ross Owen Williams.

Premise

Ryan Barnes (Hookings) is a young detective, dealing with the personal tragedy of his wife being coma-ridden whilst attempting to track down a serial killer who appears to be specifically targeting the vulnerable and elderly.

Cast

as Ryan Barnes * Olwen Catherine Kelly as Jessica *

as Joanne Hill *

as John Faulkner *

as Tom Harris * Alan Ford as Dale Jacobs * Ian Pirie as Mike Evans *

Noeleen Comiskey Noeleen Comiskey is an actress who played the recurring character of Marta Shirovs in ''EastEnders''. Other television roles include Sarah Webb in ''Casualty'', Hayley Nichols in ''Doctors'' and Nathalia Volkov in ''Legends'', starring Sean Bea ...

as Jane Evans * Ella Road as Amanda Jacobs

Production

Filming took place over 17 days around

Lynton Lynton is a town on the Exmoor coast in the North Devon district in the county of Devon, England, approximately north-east of Barnstaple and west of Minehead, and close to the confluence of the West Lyn and East Lyn rivers. Lynton sits dire ...

and

Lynmouth Lynmouth is a village in Devon, England, on the northern edge of Exmoor. The village straddles the confluence of the West Lyn River, West Lyn and East Lyn River, East Lyn rivers, in a gorge directly below the neighbouring town of Lynton, w ...

in north Devon, England. Several scenes were shot at

Petroc College Petroc is a further education (FE) and higher education (HE) college in Devon, England, with a catchment area covering more than . It has the largest A-level sixth form in North Devon. The college serves up to 11,000 students each year, on a wi ...

, allowing local performing arts students an opportunity to be involved in filming. During an interview with The Breeze, director Lenoir explained his view on hoping to raise awareness of dementia, saying "There are an estimated 50 million people suffering from Alzheimer's worldwide and we hope the film is given the platform it deserves for its subject matter to be heard. I'm hoping that this film will raise an interesting debate on the condition."

Release

The film's distributor, Phoenix Worldwide Entertainment, secured three international territory deals, to North America, Italy and China.

Reception

Critical response

Entertainment Focus described the film as "an ambitious project by the film-makers that they pull off admirably" Nerdly called the film "polished, stylised, well acted, well written and uses the most of its location". Alan Ford, in particular, was praised for his performance, with UK Film Review noting he "shines in his brief scenes as Dale Jacobs... struggling with his dementia and, consequently, debating whether or not his life is truly worth living." ''

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 ...

'' was less enthusiastic, reporting "Winter Ridge is the kind of plucky, low-budget British feature one so wants to like" before describing the result as "middling... with decidedly shabby edges"

Awards

The film won more than a dozen awards at independent film festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, including Best Foreign Film at the Hollywood Florida Film Festival, and Best UK Feature and Best British Film at the

London Independent Film Festival The London Independent Film Festival is a British film festival that takes place annually in April. It was founded by Erich Schultz and specialises in low-budget independent films. It offers a screenplay competition and distribution fair. Hist ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 5973658 2018 films 2018 independent films 2010s mystery drama films 2010s psychological drama films 2018 psychological thriller films 2010s serial killer films British independent films British serial killer films British thriller films Murder–suicide in films 2018 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films London Independent Film Festival Award Winners English-language independent films English-language crime films English-language mystery drama films English-language thriller films