Martyrs Lane

Martyrs Lane (2022) is a British horror film written and directed by Ruth Platt — watch it online on iFILM. Ten-year-old Leah lives with her family in the grounds of a church, where her father serves as vicar and her mother, played by Denise Gough, is present in body but somewhere very far away in her head. One night a small girl appears at the bedroom window, wanting to play. Then she comes back the next night. And the next.

No adult seems to notice the visitor. Kiera Thompson carries most of the film's weight as Leah, a child who is lonely enough to welcome company without asking too many questions — at first. Platt builds the dread out of family silence rather than jump scares: there is a secret buried somewhere in this household, and the nightly guest is connected to it. By the time Leah understands what she has been told, the horror lands somewhere quieter and more lasting than a shock cut. Stream Martyrs Lane (2022) online on iFILM.