The tale is set in Yorkshire in the 1970s, and we are introduced to teacher/archaeologist Richard, played by Dr Who himself, Matt Smith! He's married to Juliette, played by Morfydd Clark (Saint Maud, Crawl), and living in the house with them is their son, Owen. Their son starts exhibiting disturbing and gruesome behaviour at a local school event, hearing voices before suddenly dying from a severe asthma attack (we see him with his inhaler during the early scenes).
Juliette falls into a deep depression, staying in bed mostly while local yoga/spiritualist folk try to cleanse the house and get her back on track. All a bit odd, and it plays out more like a séance than anything! Richard buries himself in his work, in more ways than one(!), on his late father’s land, searching for the remains of the Whistling Tree - an ancient, legendary oak associated with pagan rituals and a spirit named Dandelion Jack/Jack Grey.
While digging, Richard unearths the skeleton of a hare. Back in his study, the bones mysteriously begin generating tissue, muscle, and organs - eventually reanimating into a living, breathing hare! When Juliette discovers the creature, she becomes obsessively attached to it, viewing it as a chance to have something to love and care for following her loss. We now start to find out some stuff about Richard's father's abusive antics, and Richard becomes obsessed with his journals, which depict all sorts of folklore regarding the land and that tree.
We then head deeper into the 'needs' of said tree and land and what it is demanding of the people around the scene - by this time including Juliette's sister, Harrie, played by Erin Richards (Gotham), Richard's teaching colleague, and some neighbours (whom Richard and Juliette had previously distanced Owen from, as they claimed he was filling his head full of unhelpful stories). Things start to get a bit gory into the bargain, with some surprise twists!
The film is quite chilling in many ways: dark and sinister, perfectly set and filmed on those bleak Yorkshire moors, highlighting their isolation. Don't forget, also, that this was the 1970s, so no mobile phones or other mod cons - at one point, we see Harrie having to drive to an isolated phone box to make a call. The music and audio/sounds generally support this kind of eerie atmosphere too.
It's called Starve Acre because it was a derogatory name given by local farmers to a piece of land that was barren, infertile, corrupt at the root, or so poor that crops and livestock couldn't survive on it. The land is 'starved' because the ancient woodland spirit (Dandelion Jack/Jack Grey) trapped beneath the roots was drained of life when the tree was felled. As Richard's neighbour notes, "There's not an inch of soil that's still alive".
It seems to have been produced by House Productions and BBC Film, distributed by the BFI, written/directed by Daniel Kokotajlo (Apostasy) and adapted from the 2019 novel by Andrew Michael Hurley (known for rural gothic horror like The Loney). Morfydd Clark is great, delivering a haunting performance, and Matt Smith plays the quiet, repressed grief-ridden role - turning into obsession equally well. Don't give up, though - slow-burn as it is, the finale is a great payoff! The film is just over an hour and a half long and available widely on streaming services, especially BBC iPlayer and BFI or course.
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