The Living and the Dead (2006)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Donald Brocklebank	Roger Lloyd-Pack	½
James Brocklebank	Leo Bill
Nancy Brocklebank	Kate Fahy
Nurse Mary	Sarah Bell

Review

Simon Rumley exhibits the young filmmaker's flair and vision, but not quite the experienced filmmaker's control and logical sense. The Living and the Dead touches on heart-rending aspects in its narrative and has some scenes of great psychological terror in its realization as a horror film, but as a whole, there is too much unpolished, raw material surfacing in this film. The visuals reflect a kid gone rampant with his crayons - they are striking and sometimes effective, but also quite fussy. The same can be said of the acting and writing of the lead character, James. He has many interesting human elements, but he is a bit too obviously not a human being - he's a mentally handicapped plot device who ultimately is hard to have much sympathy for. Kate Fahy has the film's best performance - it is her agony we share, and it is through her Rumley demonstrates the most insight.