The Past Fights Back in ‘Beyond the Drumlins’

The past refuses to stay buried in Beyond the Drumlins, a new independent horror film that fuses the earthy dread of The Ritual with the cosmic unease of Annihilation. Written and directed by Daniel Bowhers, the film opens this week, inviting audiences to lose themselves in a tale of obsession, folklore, and forces far older than civilisation itself.

The story follows archaeology professor Jonathan Rust, played by Michael Kowalski, who leads his assistant, colleagues and a long-time friend to a remote excavation site in rural Britain. What begins as an academic expedition soon descends into terror when the team discovers they are not alone. As strange phenomena unsettle the camp and members of the group vanish one by one, the line between science and superstition collapses. The surviving researchers find themselves trapped in a liminal world between the living and the dead, where reason offers no defence against the horrors waiting beneath the soil.

Shot in 1.66:1 European widescreen and lit almost entirely by natural light, Beyond the Drumlins pays homage to the textured realism of 1970s horror cinema. Its deliberate pacing, grainy visuals and analogue synth score recall the disquieting atmosphere of The Thing and Phantasm, while its focus on isolation and psychological breakdown situates it firmly within the folk horror tradition. Bowhers’s direction turns the English landscape into an oppressive character in itself, where ancient burial mounds and low hills seem to pulse with something unseen.

The film’s sense of authenticity is heightened by its minimalist production and the cast’s grounded performances. Kowalski delivers a quietly tormented portrayal of a man consumed by curiosity, while Emma Jessop’s performance as Cameron Burson balances intellect with dread. Morgan DeTogne and Dan Titmuss round out the ensemble with measured turns that deepen the film’s emotional stakes.

Bowhers, who previously made Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth, brings his fascination with parallel dimensions and metaphysical horror to full effect here. The filmmaker’s background in visual effects and his long-standing interest in dream logic and identity make Beyond the Drumlins an evolution of his earlier work, combining grounded realism with moments of uncanny surrealism.

With Beyond the Drumlins, Bowhers joins a growing movement of filmmakers redefining folk horror for a modern audience, one where psychological collapse meets cosmic terror. The result is an atmospheric descent into madness that lingers long after the credits fade, asking whether some discoveries are better left untouched.

Beyond the Drumlins trailer