'The Daisy Chain' never fulfills promise

Director: Aisling Walsh

Cast: Samantha Morton, Eva Birthistle, Steven Mackintosh, Mhairi Anderson

Cert: 15

An Irish horror story, using the mysterious and atmospheric West as a perfect – and perfectly photographed – backcloth, that doesn’t quite deliver on its promise since it becomes just another chiller featuring a young girl who might not be quite what she seems.

Martha (Morton) and Tom (Mackintosh) return to his boyhood home in the West of Ireland following the death of their baby daughter. Their near neighbours are a young couple with an autistic daughter, Daisy (Anderson) … and plenty of others who think Daisy is an evil influence.

When the young couple die in a fire Martha and Tom look after Daisy while the authorities sort out her future … a kindness the locals know will not be repaid.

Even Tom begins to agree as one mishap follows another … is Daisy the devil everybody says she is?

It’s the sort of film that always seems to be moving in the right direction without managing it, though Walsh does a magnificent job in using the brooding landscape to its full.

Star Rating: 3/5