Fantasia International Film Festival (FIFF) – I’m all for slow-burn ghost stories set in shadowy English homes with creaky floorboards. I like a good bump in the night. Upon reading the synopsis of Martyrs Lane, writer/director Ruth Platt’s third film, I was excited and hoped for a chilling tale. However, the film’s big reveal takes so long to get to with so few effective scares along the way. Patience doesn’t pay off.

The narrative follows 10-year-old Leah (Kiera Thompson), who comes from an imperfect home. Her mother, Sarah (Denise Gough), carries a strange locket and in it a piece of blond hair that Leah steals. The relationship between Leah and her mom is less than stellar for reasons made clear later. Eventually, Leah encounters a young girl (Sienna Sayer) in the woods with angel wings. The girl quickly becomes a nightly visitor who seems to know nothing of her past and doesn’t even recall her name. As she visits more frequently, strange and unusual events occur around the house. Items, including letters for a charm bracelet, show up out of nowhere. The antics soon become sinister.

Credit must be given to Sayer and Thompson’s performances. The strongest scenes occur when the girls are together, hanging out in Leah’s bedroom. Even moments where they play two truths and a lie have a serious spook factor. They’re the most interesting characters in the film. Unfortunately, many of the other characters, including Sarah, Leah’s father, Thomas (Steven Cree), and her sister, Bex (Hannah Rae) just aren’t that engaging. This isn’t a knock on any of their performances. They just aren’t given much to do. Some of them, Thomas and Bex especially, feel like throw-away characters, too paper-thin to warrant much attention. Sarah has a larger role to play, especially the reveal in the last act, but even she too feels like a flat character.

If the film has another strength, other than the screen time of the young girls, it’s the atmosphere. Rooms are dimly lit. The house feels like it holds secrets and ghosts. This sets the tone and mood well. It’s a shame the film lacks enough scares to remain entertaining.

Overall, Martyrs Lane would have benefited from a tighter script. At times, some of the minor stories feel muddled. It takes a long time until the visitor’s identity is revealed, with too few frights peppering the narrative. There’s still plenty of ways to tell a good ghost story. Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House”, or, if we want to go with a British example, Ghost Stories (2017), proves that. The problem with Martyrs Lane is that this ghost story is more of a yawn, maybe a slight chill late in the night, but nothing that lingers.

The film will screen as part of the Fantasia International Film Festival, happening August 5-25.

6 Out of 10