Dagr — Dagr (ltd-theatrical/ VOD)

Dagr is a British found-footage film that slips from YouTube /pretentious film-maker satire to glitching ‘n’ phantom darting folk horror. With the often uncomfortable comedy and creepy chills largely kept separate.

Dagr was made in 2024- and shot on location between Welsh and Somerset countryside. It’s directed/ co-written by Matthew Butler-Hart, who started off his filmmaking career as an actor in the late 90’s- which certainly shows in the film to hand, as the cast is well-picked & excellent.  Between 2008 and the present day he has fourteen directorial credits to his name-  five of these are features, and the others are shorts. His features go from period comedy Miss In Her Teens (2014),  darkly amusing hitman thriller Two Down (2015), slow burn mystery-drama The Isle (2018), and alternate universe set time loop sci-fi Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021). So he’s certainly a genre versatile filmmaker.

Dagr is just on the cusp of being a feature-length as it runs at the one hour and seventeen-minute mark. And as I indicated in my opening it rather neatly splits itself between the comedy and horror elements.  

The first just over half of the film darts back and forth between two sets of characters. There’s the cocky, obnoxious, at points amusingly grating twentysomething YouTubers Louise (Riz Mortiz) and Thea(Ellie Duckles)- who paint themselves as modern-day pranking Robbin Hoods, but in reality are fame-hungry petty criminals- who go to shoots/ similar to mess with things/ steal things.  They are on their way to an isolated country house pretending to be caterers.  At the country house is a group of four led up by smug and pretensions film director Tori(Tori Butler-Hart) who are filming a very arty black and white advent.

By around the thirty-minute mark, the Youtubers arrive at the house- and things seem somewhat a miss, as no one is around and there is what looks like blood on one of the doorways. As we shift from comedy into mystery and horror- with some neat moments of unease and glitching dread- with the odd splashes of blood here & there. I won’t give away exactly what is behind everything- but it rather sits in the folk horror side of things.

I’d have to say Dagr was very much a film of pros and cons- on the positive side the satirical elements gave me more than a few chuckles. The whole thing is very well acted- with some of the characters getting a decent arc. There certainly is a good feeling of building dread- peppered with moments of disquiet, and the cast carries off terror and fear well.

On the less positive side of things, in the first half of the film, both sets of characters feel more like caricatures- with the lines and actions feeling more than a little contrived. At points, they move from being quietly amusing to downright grating/ annoying. When the horror kicks in some of the glitching effects look a little cheap, and the resolve is somewhat cliched of the occult folk horror genre.

There is no doubt that the shift between satire and bone-chilling horror in Dagr is a distinctive take on the found footage format. And I’d say if you are open to both genres- this will certainly work for you. Yes, there are a few issues, but I’d say the pros (largely) outweigh the cons making Dagr a more than worthy stab at the found footage form.  The film is presently touring selected UK cinemas, but it’s getting a digital release in the UK on the 8th of April. To find out more drop by the films site here