DIRECTOR EXCLUSIVE
Growing Your Hare
Daniel Kokotajlo talks about his ’70s-set folk horror film Starve Acre
WORDS: IAN BERRIMAN
LIKE SEVERAL CLASSIC examples of folk horror, Starve Acre centres on something being unearthed. In this case: the mysteriously well-preserved roots of an oak tree cut down centuries ago, and the bones of a hare – which then impossibly begins to regenerate. Also buried just beneath the surface, metaphorically speaking, is a tragic loss: the death of Ewan, five-year-old son of archaeologist Richard (Matt Smith) and Juliette (Morfydd Clark).
Set in rural Yorkshire in the ’70s, it’s based on a book by Andrew Michael Hurley – technically, as director Daniel Kokotajlo explains to Red Alert, two books. “They first released the book pretending it was an unearthed ’70s novella, under a pseudonym. That version had a bit more violence and gore, and the ending was different. So the film ended up becoming a mix of the two.”