🔗 Share this article

Produced by Bristol sound co-founder Geoff Barrow, this sharp-edged if slight first film casts a critical gaze on 90s rave culture. Venal pillhead David (the actor) initially steals from an passed-out supplier, then in a later recollection tries to burgle his own family home. Before you can say, he's upside down in the remains of his car in a forest – and subject to the angry eye of the Poacher (Sleaford Mods frontman Jason Williamson). Refusing to extricate David, with impatience toward city dwellers, he is a fractured society embodied: “You’re one of those noisy cunts from up on the heath.”

Unsteady Opening and Darkly Funny Confrontation

Game gets off to a shaky start, spending too long on meticulously detailing David’s attempt to free himself from his seatbelt, while clumsily segueing into flashbacks of his everyday life. The central theme – that the rave-era youth were primarily out for themselves – is clearly conveyed. But these vignettes are insufficiently developed to properly prime us for what to expect when the Woodsman arrives, enraged after David kills his dog. Nevertheless, a grimly amusing standoff unfolds – David desperate to escape; the Woodsman withholding his jerrycan of scrumpy, determined to soaking him instead in resentful talk. Williamson, projecting ponderous menace in the role, is evocative of Michael Smiley.

Stylish Imagery and Music Video Sensibility

There is only one important plot development, but it results in a comically executed rampage on the woodland paths that dips close to folk horror. Director John Minton finally gets to go all in with his ostentatious visuals: where he was hunkered down doing impressionistic closeups of bugs in headlights in the early stages, he now goes all out with the full lysergic 21-gun salute, soundtracked to a wild organ version of Ravel’s Boléro. The movie resembles an extended promo than a complete narrative, but there’s enough strident imagery to suggest that Minton could follow Jonathan Glazer, Garth Jennings and others into successfully graduating from the Brit music promo scene.

Game releases in British and Irish theaters from November 17.