Mandrake

When infamous murderer Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty) is released from prison she is assigned probation officer Cathy Madden (Deirdre Mullens).

Mary's crime was sensationalised in the press with talk of satanism and orgies in the woods leading up to an axe murder. She's known as "Bloody Mary" or "The Witch" and the subject of much urban folklore.

Now 30 years later Cathy is resolved to deal with Mary professionally and stop her being hounded even though she's an unsettling presence who is hard to like.

No good will come of this.

This Northern Irish horror is worth it for Derbhle Crotty's performance alone. She's a properly disturbing presence who can make simply offering someone a drink seem loaded with menace.

Obviously done on a tiny budget it doesn't matter as it's small town rural desolation, isolation and pent up resentment that make it.

Well worth a look 7/10